影 Kage
by chaotic9
Summary: Sometimes even the heroes greatest victory can be tainted. And that cost Jade her place in her Universe. Now in another Universe watched by a place called Kandrakar and its Guardians, with some of the power she once possessed, Jade will try to find a way home, by any means necessary. But can she prevail in an Universe where Light seems to always beat Darkness?
1. Chapter 1

A.N.: This is a new project that I have been thinking for some time now that will be some kind of an AU of WITCH season 2 along with being a crossover with Jackie Chan Adventures. For starters, the first chapter plays a different ending of the episode "Powers that be" part 2, along with changes at some scenes.

**Sore Loser: If I have to go down, then so does she  
**

"_No! This can't be happening! I was so_ close!"

Drago couldn't believe it. An hour ago, he was on top of the world, ready to initiate a new era for demons with him at the helm. Everything was going so well.

But now? Now he is hanging for dear life in a futile attempt to prevent his own banishment with his decrepit father holding him down through his tail.

It wasn't fair. This moment was supposed to be the beginning of his rule, his own kingdom of demons. At least his father and the rest of his uncles and aunts had their own time of ruling the world. Even the Oni had their turn. But he didn't. Even his first attempt, though it was in his father´s name, was denied. All because of her. His true nemesis.

"_Jade."_

Drago could see her, safely in the arms of Hak Foo of all people. Seeing his downfall while being protected by her family and friends. Yes, looking at her he could see the Jade of his own time. The same brown eyes that challenged and mocked him at the same time. Even her current clothes reminded him of that Jade. The Jade back there was a constant nuisance, even after she realized that she couldn't stop him and his army of demons. And instead of accepting defeat, she had to travel back in time, team up with her young self and both had to find a way of ruining his victory, his future and above all else his destiny.

Yes, she was the one who tainted his fate. Not Jackie Chan, nor the two chi wizards or the so called J-team. Although it was them that turned to defeat what was supposed to be his greatest moment, along with his father; it was her who had tainted him to begin with. The wrench that had stopped his ambitions from the very beginning up to this moment, when he is about to be banished to the Netherworld along with his father.

But what's worse, is knowing what will come next. After his end she will probably fulfill her dream at being an agent of Section 13. He could already see it, her becoming the head of Section 13 at the cost of his defeat. Ultimately she and her family are about to win against him.

"NO! I WILL NOT LET IT END LIKE THIS!" Drago shouted as he tried to think of a way to at least get even with her. If he is going down, then he will drag her down with him.

But how? He is too far from her, not to mention her family and friends are in the way. He has no way of reaching and dragging her. So how? How? H…

Moving his eyes to the shadow beneath Hak Foo feet, an idea came to Drago. A crazy one, but it might work. Yes, it might work indeed. He remembered that his father had once told him of the time when Jade had wrestled the control of the Shadowkhan ninja tribe from him thanks to the mark of the Shadowkhan King Tarakudo. At the time he had found that laughable and one more proof that his father was too old and ancient to conquer the mortal world if he couldn't even hold his own army of shadows from a small girl. But now…

"I was saving this spell to create my own Shadowkhan, but right now I can´t think of a better use to it than this," said Drago smiling maliciously.

"What are you talking about now boy? Can´t you see that because of your treachery we are about to be banished? When I get my claws of you…"

Drago ignored his senile father and started to chant.

* * *

The strong wind continued to pull every demon to the fissure on the ground. In fact, even the humans had to grab on something or someone if they didn't want to be dragged to the Netherworld along with Drago, Shendu and the rest of the demons.

Safely in the arms of one of her family's former enemies (at least she assumed that was the case), Jade remembered when Drago pulled Shendu toward the fissure minutes ago and how it seemed to backfire on him. Ch! As if it was that surprising that Drago would betray Shendu. That is why she prevented Jackie from approaching those two. Why intervene if both your enemies might take out each other instead?

"Sometimes the greatest victory is the battle not fought. You were right Uncle Jackie, you were right." said Jade to herself.

"What was that Jade?" asked Jackie.

"Nothing important," said Jade smiling to herself.

Jackie just shrugged and asked Uncle:

"How much longer?"

The old chi wizard stopped chanting, letting Tohru continuing the banishment spell and said:

"Soon. No one can escape the reversal spell once it is started. Hold on for just a few more moments."

"Uh Uncle, it seems that Drago is trying something," warned Jade as she pointed to Drago.

Indeed he was, chanting some spell while his red eyes glowed even more than normal. Uncle put a hand to his ear in an attempt of listening the chanting.

"Strange, Drago is speaking in Japanese," said Uncle.

"Then perhaps we should let Tohru listen to what he is say… AUCH!"

Jackie winced in pain as Uncle struck his head with his two fingers.

"Reversal spell veeeerryyyy complicated. The balance between the chanting and the chi used requires a delicate control. If chanting is stopped the spell stops immediately. And octopus tentacles can only be used once to this kind of spell." said Uncle in irritation.

"In other words, if Tohru stops so thus the spell, right T?" said Jade looking at Tohru who also looked at her nodding in agreement.

"Yes. Even if Uncle switches with Tohru there is a chance of spell may end abruptly. The chanting cannot be stopped even for an instant." said Uncle.

"Then how can we make sure that Drago is not trying to counter the spell?" asked Jackie.

In response Uncle smacked in again.

"Uncle told you no one can escape this spell once it is started, unless we stop it ourselves. And there is no counter spell to it, either in Chinese or Japanese." said Uncle exasperated.

"No offense Uncle, but you didn't know of the spell that Drago used to absorb the demon chi. Isn´t it possible that there may be a way to undo or counter your spell that you don´t know of?" said Jackie in worry.

While Uncle felt the urge to smack his nephew again, the more rational part of his mind had to concede the merit of his nephew worries. Effectively no chi wizard can know all spells in the world no matter how wise or long lived he is. Lo Pei's spell to imprison Shendu in stone was not known to him until Daolon Wong forcibly told him the spell. His apprentice's knowledge of Oni legends, no matter how rudimentary they were at the beginning, proved invaluable when facing them, while he actually felt useless during that time.

Indeed he couldn't say with 100% of assurance that Drago´s unknown spell cannot counter the reversal spell. But it is also possible that this spell may do something completely different.

The question is what?

Sighing, the old chi wizard says:

"Very well, Uncle will try to listen and decipher Drago´s chanting."

"But how, if he is saying it in japanese?" asked Jade.

"Uncle can now understand Japanese. Tohru has been teaching how to speak properly, isn´t that right Tohru?" said Uncle.

Both Jade and Jackie look in surprise to the giant, who rolled his eyes, almost like saying "yes, but it sure isn´t easy to teach your sensei your native language."

"But why didn't you say anything in the first place, Uncle?" yelled Jackie in exasperation.

Another smack on his head followed by a OUCH!

"You didn't ask. Now let Uncle hear what demon is saying." said Uncle as he listened intently to Drago chanting.

Jade just shrugs her shoulders and looks at Drago while he continues to chant. His red eyes were glowing even more than before, like they were literally on fire. For some reason, it made her shiver looking at those eyes.

"You okay Jade?" asked Jackie noticing his niece shivering as if she was freezing.

"Yes Jackie. Just a small shiver for some reason, nothing big." said Jade while she scratched her left ankle. For some reason it was itching.

If Jade had looked at her ankle she could have noticed an orange glow on her left ankle, slightly hidden by her trousers.

* * *

"IT`S DONE! I'VE DONE IT! I FINALLLY WON AGAINST HER! EH EH EH! HA HA HA! **AH AH AH AH AH**!" shouted Drago and laughing maniacally.

"HER? WHAT ARE YOU UP TO BOY? WHAT DID…"

Before Shendu could finish questioning his son, the ledge from which Drago was holding himself and his father finally crumbled, making both demons fall towards the void of the Netherworld.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

"**AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH!**"

While Shendu´s expression was one of fear and desperation, Drago´s face was a mask of maniacal glee, as if he wasn't concerned in being forever banished from the Earth realm.

His laughter continued for a few more instants, stopping when the fissure finally closed, ending the spell.

* * *

With Drago gone, the red clouds that covered the sky dispersed letting the sunlight penetrate the stadium.

"YEEESSSS!" shouted Jade and embracing Jackie. Finally it was all over.

The Enforcers arrived at the stadium, packed with snacks and drinks.

"OHHHH, we missed the end," said Ratso disappointed, slurping his drink.

"Well, look at the bright side, at least there is no more magic wacko for us," said Finn.

"Still, just on the safe side, how about we move from San Francisco?" suggested Chow.

"Agreed." said the other two.

The Ice Gang was trying to leave the scene unnoticed until a certain boy stopped them, or more precisely his guardian.

"Going somewhere?" said Paco.

"Nice job. We should team up more often," said Viper as she embraced Jackie smiling at him, which he also returned.

Jade also smiled at the sight, already thinking of a date for the two lovebirds.

Tohru, while visibly more exhausted since he was the one who practically sustained the spell until the end, was about to return the tentacle to Uncle, but the old chi wizard lifted his hand, refusing.

"Keep it. Graduation present. You are a full chi wizard now. Honestly, if your efforts in maintaining the reversal spell doesn't prove your mastery, then Uncle doesn't know what will," said Uncle.

Tohru smiled at this, but then he noticed the frown on Uncle´s face.

"Thinking about Drago´s last spell, Sensei?" asked Tohru.

"Yes. Winds didn't let Uncle hear all of it, only a few parts like _shadow awakens again _and _out of this world_. Drago repeated those parts several times." said Uncle still pondering the meaning of Drago´s last actions.

"I couldn't quite catch what he was saying Sensei, but is it possible that his spell was a bust, considering his situation?" asked Tohru.

"Perhaps Tohru is right. All seems fine. Maybe his last spell didn't do anything." reasoned Jackie still with Jade in his arms.

"Magic always produces something once it is started. Even if spell is incomplete, it will produce some effect even if it isn´t the intended purpose. But Drago was too much satisfied, whatever he did was successful. But what?" asked Uncle exasperated because of the mystery spell.

"Ch! As if Gecko boy was that good at magic. I mean, seriously, did you notice how he laughed? He probably went off the deep end before the banishment," said Jade confidently, while Jackie was putting her on the ground.

And the instant her feet touched the ground, orange glow on her ankle returned, unleashing Drago´s last parting gift.

Jade´s shadow stretched significantly in front of her, gaining her attention.

"What the…"

Jade could not finish her sentence as dark tendrils emerged from her shadow, grabbing both her ankles, and started to drag her toward her own shadow, which looked more like a dark puddle now.

"JAAAAAAACKIE!"

"JADE!"

In an instant Jackie grabbed her right hand, while Viper grabbed her left one. Both tried with all of their combined strength to stop Jade´s slow advance toward the dark puddle.

"UNCLE, WHAT IS HAPPENING?" shouted Jackie in urgency.

"A BANISHMENT SPELL. THAT´S WHAT DRAGO DID!" shouted Uncle in shock.

"TO WHERE?" asked Jackie.

"The Shadow Realm. That was what he was trying to accomplish," whispered Tohru, barely audible by the others. He did start to feel the shivers of when something related to the Oni is nearby.

"But how is that possible? Tarakudo and all of the Shadowkhan are still trapped in the mask back at Section 1," said Captain Black while he grabbed Jackie`s waist, trying to help him in halting Jade´s advance.

"Shadow magic is older than Oni and Shadowkhan themselves. Drago probably found those spells the same way as Shendu did," said Uncle, preparing his dried salamander and puffer fish.

Another tendril emerged from the puddle, this one enveloping Jade's waist, pulling her harder than previously to the puddle. Jade turned her head and to her panic she could already see her feet starting to immerse in the puddle.

"JAAAAACKIE! HELP!" shouted Jade in panic and fear.

"DON´T WORRY, I WILL SAVE YOU JADE!" shouted Jackie as redoubled his efforts.

Uncle started to fire chi blasts toward the tendrils, dispersing some of them. But in the next instant more tendrils emerged from the puddle, covering Jade's legs completely.

"IT´S NOT WORKING! THE MORE UNCLE SHOOT, MORE TENDRILS COME TO REINFORCE THE PULL!" shouted Uncle, still firing more shots of chi blasts. He would burn his chi completely if it meant to halt the spell at the very least.

"THEN I WILL HELP!" shouted Paco as he grabbed Viper´s waist, trying to help the others and Jade.

"AS DO I MI AMIGOS!" shouted El Toro as he grabbed Paco´s waist.

"STRONG BEAR HUGS HONORABLE EAGLE!" shouted Hak Foo as he grabbed Black´s waist.

Tohru also joined the others, grabbing both Hak Foo and El Toro, using all of his strength to stop the pull.

"Should we help?" asked Ratso.

"I for one say we should, at least this once. Spite of everything, the kid is alright," said Finn.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go," said Chow as the Enforcers joined Tohru in pulling against tendrils.

A year ago if someone had said that one day her family, friends and former enemies would try to save her from eternal banishment, she would have probably laughed in that person face. But now, she was seeing it with her own eyes. It touched her, knowing that so many cared for her, even if only slightly in some cases.

But after ten minutes of pulling against the tendrils the others started to get tired. Even Uncle started to fire chi blasts with less accuracy as he breathed with more and more difficulty.

Jade look at the puddle and saw more tendrils emerging from it, covering her legs and starting to advance beyond her waist. She feared that any minute they would reach her neck or worse her hands. If they reached her hands then they could also reach Jackie, Viper and all the others. And in the case of not being strong enough, they could also be pulled along with her.

No. She wouldn't let that happen. Drago may get his petty vengeance against her but he will not damn her family if she could avoid it. But ultimately she would have to do one thing. One thing that will hurt her family beyond belief no doubt about it, including her parents.

But it was the only thing left to do.

Jade looked at Jackie, still trying with what strength he has left to pull her to safety. And the same could be said about Viper. And Captain Black. And Paco. And all the others, including former enemies. She will miss them, no matter how short her time away from them will last.

"Jackie…" whispered Jade.

"Don´t…huff…worry Jade. We…huff…are almost…huff…there…" said Jackie with difficulty.

"It's alright Uncle Jackie, you did what you could. I just wished that we could part ways in better circumstances," said Jade while she smiled at Jackie, the beginning of tears in her eyes.

Jackie was confused about what Jade was talking about, but Viper realized what she meant.

"No kid, don´t…"

Too late.

In a swift movement Jade let go of both hands. Now that there was no opposite pull, the tendrils pushed Jade in one single spring jump, making her hit the puddle backwards, like if she landed in a pool of water.

"**JAAAAAAAAAADE**!"

She still heard the desperate shout of Jackie, so full of worry, so full of sorrow. It was a good thing that she couldn't look at his face now. It probably would have crushed her heart seeing his expression if the sentiment of his shout was any indication. As if her heart was not hurt enough about what she did.

Her vision of the blue sky switched to only dark. Probably the puddle, she thought. While hitting the puddle felt like hitting water, she no longer felt like she was in water. In fact, Jade felt like she was falling, like she had jumped from a cliff.

Jade closed her eyes and let her body fall, as tears fall down both her cheeks.

And she fell.

And fell into the dark.

* * *

A bald man with a strange tattoo was meditating in a calm place of what seemed a fortress. His eyes were closed, as if in deep slumber and yet not quite sleeping.

But eventually his peaceful ended meditation as the man opens his eyes.

This man is known as Himerish, current Oracle of the Council of Kandrakar, who oversaw the safety of all worlds in the Universe.

And right now he felt something. It was no vision, no dream, nothing more than a strange a sensation that something wasn't right. What was interesting is that for some reason, the _wrong_ that he felt didn't seem to come from any of the worlds in the entire Universe.

At least from this Universe.

Before he could muse more about this, he felt another change, this one coming from Meridian. It seemed that the Light of Meridian was able to defeat her brother, along with the Guardians.

He smiled, relieved that in a few days at most he and the rest of the Council would finally lift the Veil around Meridian, ending the suffering of all of its inhabitants. And most of all, he and rest of the Council could finally meet the new Guardians in person.

Not that he didn't already knew about them anyway.

As he plans how to communicate this new events to the Council, the feeling of dread from before returned. And for some reason, it felt worse than before.

And it was becoming worse by the minute.


	2. Chapter 2

A.N.: Thank you all for the positive support that I got for this new story. Just knowing that people are reading and liking this story is reward enough.

I must admit that part of the concept of banishing Jade to the Shadow Realm was based on "Her Shadowed Realm" by CryptIXeeper, although my take is still different from that story.

Anyway, this chapter will deal with Jade's time in the Shadow Realm, her transformation and how she arrives in the WITCH universe. You will like to see that our favorite "Queen" will be featured too (in her scene, listen to her soundtrack, the one from the episode Queen of the Shadowkhan).

By the way, Jade is still wearing that agent uniform that she got for the finale.

Also, I would like to thank Zim´sMostLoyalServant for being the betareader for this story.

* * *

**To Become a Shadow, and Arrival**

It stopped. Or at least it seemed that way to her. Or perhaps she was still falling and just got used to it.

Jade opened her eyes, looking at her new surroundings. A black sky partially covered by red clouds or mist – definitely different from the orange expanse of the Netherworld.

"At least I know a thing or two about this place thanks to Tohru," said Jade almost in a whisper.

The quiet tone on her own voice seemed almost alien to her. Touching her right check, she felt the trail of tears still there. Another thing that she didn't associate with herself – not that she didn't cry before, but only in extreme situations like Jackie turning to stone, or when he was truly disappointed with her for taking the animals with the Talisman powers to the fair, and losing them in the process. Or when Jackie said that she had to return to her parents. That was when she actually let the tears fall, even if she didn't let Jackie see them.

But this time it was different. Unlike the last time, when she was banished along with Bai Tza to the Netherworld by accident, she had to see her family and friends trying everything to save her this time. Worse, she had to willingly let herself go, even if to avoid more of them being banished from Earth. But still, she knew that her sacrifice had to hurt her family, especially Jackie.

Perhaps that is why it hurt a lot more this time. It was different than being caught in a banishment spell by accident with no time to react. In a way, Jade felt that she is the cause of their pain. And her parents should feel the same too. Assuming that Jackie told them about what happened, probably after trying every way to bring her back to Earth.

Yes, that's right. Why was she feeling so down with herself? This wasn't something new to her. She was banished once, and she found a way out thanks to Uncle (and Shendu, to some extent). And Tohru was also transported to this place once and was able to return to Earth.

So why not her, too? She bet that Uncle and Tohru were right now researching through every book and scroll on the store to find a way to bring her back. And Jackie was certainly searching for some ancient artifact or magical object that could help her too. Perhaps the J-Team was also helping him, even Paco. Captain Black may be using all of Section 13's resources in helping Uncle and Jackie. So many were trying to save her. So why was she already giving up?

"And I've got to help them like last time. We've faced demons, ninjas and sorcerers of all kinds. I already escaped from another dimension once, I can do it again," said Jade with confidence and certainty in her voice.

Cleaning her face with her hands, she tried to stand up, even though she didn't feel the ground on her feet. Now that she thought about it, she didn't feel some sort of ground or floor when she was supposedly lying on her back.

"Duh. Tohru already told me about this. In the Shadow Realm there is no ground. What else did he tell me?" said Jade to herself, trying to remember what knowledge Tohru had shared with her about this place (knowledge that she had to beg for a hundred times before he finally relented).

"Let's see, he also told me that he couldn't float up and down for some reason. I wonder…" said Jade while she looked up, trying to see the dark puddle or some sort of portal up in the black and red sky.

Nothing, at least not anything visible to her. It was possible that she fell more than she expected. Or perhaps the portal was already closed, along with her ticket out of here.

"No, no more depressing thoughts. There has to be a way out, I'm sure of it," said Jade, banishing from her mind whatever doubts that seemed to resurface again. Why was she feeling so negatively now? She didn't let her doubts get to her in the Netherworld, so why now? Perhaps the Shadow Realm had a way to affect the human mind?

Shrugging, Jade left those thoughts for another time. She tried to move her arms and legs as if swimming up to the surface. Nothing. Not even an inch.

"At least gravity seems to work somehow," said Jade with a dull voice.

Looking around the never-ending expanses of the Shadow Realm, Jade sighs and said, "Looks like I have to do what T did, float around and hope for another portal to Earth."

* * *

Hours. She had been going around this realm for hours. Or perhaps for the entire day? Difficult to tell when you can't measure time properly.

"What I wouldn't give for a watch," muttered Jade as she moved her arms and legs in a swimming fashion in order to advance faster.

At least she could move in any direction she desired without having to worry about falling into oblivion, contrary to the Netherworld. But then again, the inability to move up and down was also extremely annoying.

"Come on, come on. Where are you, little portal?" said Jade as she surveyed the same expanses for the hundredth time.

"It's hopeless. Everything looks the same here. How can I…"

Jade suddenly stopped. Looking at her right, she saw another dark puddle, although this one was in a vertical position, not lying on the ground.

Still, it must be what she had been looking for – another portal, a way to finally go home.

"Wait for me Jackie!" shouted Jade in excitement, as she moved faster now, in a hurry to finally leave this dreadful place.

In minutes she reached the dark portal, her eyes now widening in bliss.

"So long dark and moody place, and hello San…"

Jade moved to the portal, passed through it…

…And was still looking up at a dark and red sky.

"What the… but I entered it. How can I still be here?" Jade questioned as she realized that she was still in the Shadow Realm.

"Maybe I went to the wrong side?" wondered Jade as she moved to the opposite side from which she tried first.

Jade moved to the portal again…

…And again she ends up looking at the same sky.

"GRRRR! WHAT IS WRONG YOU WITH YOU, YOU STUPID PORTAL?!" shouted Jade in anger and frustration.

Again she moved to one side of the portal, passing through it.

And again.

And again.

After twenty more times with the same results, Jade finally gave up, screaming in frustration.

"I CAN´T BELIEVE THIS! OF ALL THE STUPID PORTALS IN THIS PLACE, I HAD TO FIND THE ONLY ONE THAT IS BROKEN! THIS IS JUST SO STUUUUUUUPID!"

"**GROOOAAAARRRR**!"

Jade immediately stopped her ranting after hearing that growl. Looking at her side, she spotted several snake-like creatures moving in her direction.

"Uh oh, bad day," whispered Jade.

Wasting no time, Jade moved away from the portal, trying to gain some distance from the black snake-like creatures. She remembered that Tohru had talked to her about them, and consulting one of Uncle's books had revealed what they were. Snake Shades, nasty creatures that would have torn Tohru apart if not for the Mark of Tarakudo. Something that Jade didn't have at the moment.

After several minutes of moving, Jade ventured to look and see how many were after her.

And she saw that the creatures were just hovering around the portal.

Jade stopped moving, realizing that the creatures were not interested in her, or perhaps they hadn't even seen her in the first place. Also, she was curious to why they seemed to be so interested in the portal.

"What do you want with that portal?" asked Jade to herself.

The creatures were looking at the portal and suddenly one of them moved to it, not reappearing on the other side. Another immediately followed its example. One by one the snakes were passing through the portal, which enraged Jade.

"NO WAY! I CAN'T USE IT BUT THEY CAN?! THAT IS SO NOT F…!"

Jade's outburst made the remaining snakes look in her direction, realizing a potential prey in her. Immediately they moved in Jade's direction, eager to catch her.

"Oops!"

With no time or way to run way from them, Jade tensed her body, preparing for an eventual fight. She may not have any talismans, but she could still kick butt. This prey would not be so easily taken.

"STAY BACK! I'M WARNING YOU! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" shouted Jade, challenge in her voice along with a shred of fear.

Yet the snakes still move towards her, as if excited by her desperate outburst. Jade closed her eyes and yelled.

"**STOOOOOPPPPPPP!**"

Again the orange glow returned to Jade's left ankle, unnoticed by her.

With her eyes still closed, Jade waited. And waited. A full minute may have passed, and yet nothing happened. Opening her eyes, Jade looked…

…Straight into the green eyes of one of the snakes, hovering mere inches from her face.

"AAAHHHHH!"

Jade backed away, scared by the closeness of the snake. And yet the snake didn't move an inch from its position. With a frantic look, Jade realized that the other snakes were also hovering around her in a semi-circle, stopped by some unnatural force.

"Okay, this is weird. Why don't you move?" asked Jade to herself, now visibly calmer and composed.

Jade dared to move her right hand in front of the snakes in slow gestures. She realizes that the creatures were moving their green eyes in accordance to the movements of her hand.

"Uhhhh, leave me alone?" said Jade with some uncertainty in her voice, hoping that the snakes were indeed obeying her commands.

In an instant, the snakes dispersed in all directions, leaving a confused Jade behind.

"WOOOH! What's that all about? Why didn't they attack me? T said that they didn't attack him because…"

Jade stopped in midsentence because of a thought that came to her, a thought that she hoped was wrong.

"Oh no, please don't let it be it. Please don't let be it," repeated Jade while in a hurry she pulls back the black trousers, revealing her left ankle…

…And the glowing Mark of Tarakudo, as if sneering at her.

"Oh no, no, no! It can't be. It was gone. Uncle made sure of that. How did it come back?" said Jade frantically, as her mind tried to process what was happening.

The orange glow eventually faded out, along with the mark. Her ankle was bare, as it was supposed to be.

"What? It's gone now?" said Jade, now inspecting her ankle's skin with her eyes and finger.

No ink on its surface. Effectively there was no trace of the tattoo that she once wore, the tattoo that depicted the face of Tarakudo, the King of the Shadowkhan and Lord of all Oni. The same tattoo that let her command the ninja tribe, turned her into the Queen of the Shadowkhan, and turned her against her family. While the memories about those events were more or less blurred even now, she knew one thing – the Queen was a part of her, her own inner darkness, tattoo or no tattoo.

Wincing slightly, Jade continued to inspect her skin, just to make sure. After a few more minutes, she did have to admit that there was no tattoo on her ankle.

"But I saw it, I know I did. But how can it appear and disappear like that? Last time it always remained on my skin, at least until the removal potion was used," said Jade, crossing her arms.

"Wait a second. Maybe this is all Drago's doing. I mean, Shendu did control the Shadowkhan. Maybe Drago learned from his father to do something similar? But then again, Drago had some issues with Shendu, not to mention that Shendu is a little greedy when it comes to power," said Jade, thinking if the mark's reappearance was Drago's unknown spell before his banishment.

"But then, how did he put the mark on my ankle? He didn't touch me there. And how is the mark working if Tarakudo and the Shadowkhan are still imprisoned? I remember that Tohru lost his mark after Tarakudo was imprisoned. Does it still work like before?" asked Jade, the last question actually stopping her thoughts. Could she turn again into the dread Queen of the Shadowkhan?

"Well, only one way to find out. Darkness within. Darkness within," said Jade.

A full minute passed, but no ninja appeared. Or any other members of any other tribe of the Shadowkhan. Jade looked at her ankle again. No glowing mark in there.

"Well, this sucks. At least I could go home if this worked."

Sighing, Jade decides to forget the mystery of the mark for the moment. At least it seemed to protect her from the snakes at least. And speaking of snakes…

"Now that the portal is working, let me leave this place once and for…"

Jade once again passed through the portal, again looking at the expanses of the Shadow Realm.

"Oh come on! It's not working again?" said Jade while she glared at the troublesome portal.

Why? Why wasn't it working? What was wrong now? Why did it work for the snakes but not for her?

"Maybe… because of what they are. They're shades, shadows. Uncle said all shadows lead to this realm. Maybe only a shadow can pass through them? Or someone using that power at least?" said Jade while she remembered the times when the Shadowkhan were used to transport people through the shadows. Even Uncle used that magic once when they wanted to save Tohru from Ikazuki.

"Perhaps only shadows can leave this world, or creatures with that power like the Snake Shades or the Shadowkhan. But I have the mark and I still can't use the portal. Maybe it's not enough power? Maybe that's why the mark only appears on some occasions?" pondered Jade as the possibilities of her current situation flowed through her mind.

Jade looked at the portal, seeing nothing but darkness. A thought came to her mind.

"_Maybe I need to become the Queen again in order to leave this place?"_

Suddenly, the mark returned, glowing stronger than ever, catching Jade's attention.

"What the…"

Jade couldn't finish her sentence as the orange glow got brighter and brighter, resulting in a flash that blinded Jade.

* * *

The light finally receded, revealing a confused Jade with her eyes covered by her hands.

"Ouch! My eyes. Thanks a lot, stupid ta…"

Jade stopped in midsentence as she suddenly realized that she could feel some sort of ground beneath her feet. She gave a step forward with her right foot, feeling that she was indeed on solid ground.

With some hesitation, Jade moved her hands to look at where she was. And what she saw was not something that she thought to see again so soon.

"Section 13," whispered Jade in disbelief.

Indeed, she was inside the underground facility of Section 13, where all of crime fighting activity was coordinated. In a sense, it always felt like home, almost like Uncle's shop.

"I can't believe it. I'm home. I'm finally home. I'm… surprised at how empty this place is," said Jade with some confusion at the end.

Not a soul was in this place besides her. At least the main room seemed completely deserted, with no personnel or any technicians walking around.

"HELLO! UNCLE JACKIE! CAPTAIN BLACK! IS ANYONE IN HERE?" yelled Jade.

No one answered her back, which led to the realization that Section 13 was indeed deserted.

"Maybe they're all at the stadium? But I could have sworn that I spent hours in the Shadow Realm. Maybe time there passes differently than here?" wondered Jade while she surveyed the cleaned and completely intact complex.

"Wait a second. This place was demolished when the Ice Crew attacked. How can it be standing? It's not possible," said Jade.

"Oh, but it is."

Jade turned in the direction of the unknown voice, although for some reason it seemed familiar to her. And then her eyes widened at what she saw.

A chair, a very familiar chair, the one she took from the shop after turning into the Queen, was standing a few meters in front of her, completely vacant. And it was not just the chair. The surroundings now resembled the throne room that she and the Shadowkhan assembled when they took over Section 13. There was only one difference, a banner put above the chair, one that depicted the glowing orange Mark of Tarakudo.

Jade took a step back, preparing to run, but several shadows moved in her direction, surrounding her. In mere moments multiple Shadowkhan ninjas emerged from them, who formed a complete circle around her.

"Bad day," whispered Jade as she realized that she was effectively surrounded.

"I would say good day, not a bad one," said the voice, sounding more and more familiar at each passing moment.

(Insert Queen of the Shadowkhan theme for better immersion)

Two ninjas moved aside, showing again the chair, but this time around someone familiar occupied it. Someone that Jade saw every day when she looked at the mirror, if she had blue skin, red pupil-less eyes, and long canines in her mouth.

She was looking at herself, or more precisely at the Queen of the Shadowkhan, who was smiling at her, exposing her fangs.

"YOU!" shouted Jade, while pointing a finger at her blue-dyed double.

"I think you mean _me_, don't you Jade?" said the Queen, her eyes gleaming in amusement.

The Queen levitated from the chair and approached Jade, leaving them standing now face to face. Jade took in full consideration the appearance of her double. The regal clothes, the inhuman eyes, the fanged smirk on her face. Effectively all of that screamed _evil._

"But…but how? The tattoo is gone. Uncle's potion removed it," Jade said in surprise.

The Queen merely laughed at Jade's statement. It disturbed Jade to realize that such a maniacal sound could come from her own throat.

"Amusing, but you are merely considering me as a mere magical creation of the mark, but I am so much more," said the Queen, smiling maliciously.

"What do you mean by that?" Jade asked in a challenging tone.

The Queen's smile disappeared, replaced by a frown.

"I am your anger and bitterness, directed at those who don't want to comprehend us, like our school peers and our parents. I am your independence and rebellious temperament, which allows us to question and go against the authority of others, from Jackie to our teachers. I am also your curiosity and desire for more, either adventures or simply to prove ourselves to the world. In short, I am your shadow, your inner darkness, which existed long before the tattoo, and I will always exist no matter what," said the Queen, now touching the ground with her feet.

"So, you are saying that you are part of me?" asked Jade.

"Duh! Seriously, it is not that difficult to see how _close_ we are, don't you think so Jade?" said the Queen, smiling once again.

"And now it is time," said the Queen, her eyes now glowing red.

"Time for AOOHHH!"

Jade screamed as she felt herself to sink on the floor. Or more precisely, she realized that she was sinking into her own shadow.

"It is time for you to accept your fate. It is time for you to become _my _shadow," said the Queen, her smile widening even more.

"NO, STOP IT!" shouted Jade in panic.

"It was meant to be like this Jade, ever since you put the mark on your ankle. Accept it," said the Queen.

"NO, NEVER!" shouted Jade as she tried to struggle against whatever was dragging her into her own shadow.

Jade continues to sink and sink, until only her head was visible, even if barely. She could see that the mark on the banner was disappearing, leaving nothing but sheet. She looked at the Queen, her smile even wider than before, like it was splitting her face in two.

"I am and shall remain the Queen of the Shadowkhan, while you are nothing but my kage now. **AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH**!"

The laughter continued while Jade's vision turned pitch black.

* * *

"AAAHHHHHH!"

Jade was now frantically awake, startled by the remembrance of being swallowed by her own shadow. Her eyes quickly moved in order to confirm that she was still in the Shadow Realm. It seemed that it was nothing more than a dream.

"Phew! Just a dream. Scary, but nothing more than a dream. The last thing I need was to turn into…"

Jade stopped as her eyes widened in shock as she noticed the color of her skin.

Pale blue. Just like when she had the tattoo.

"Oh no, not again," said Jade again, checking her left ankle to see signs of the tattoo, either it was glowing or not.

Nothing. Again, no tattoo. Still she decided to inspect more of her body to see if there were any other changes beside her skin color.

"Hum, my teeth seem normal, no fangs present," said Jade while she inspected her teeth with her finger.

"Now where are those glasses?" murmured Jade as she inspected her black jacket.

Eventually she found her black glasses.

"Aha. And now to see my eyes," said Jade as she looked at the lens, trying to see the reflection of her face.

The good news was that her eyes looked mostly normal, human normal at least. The only noticeable difference was the eye color, which was now red instead of her usual brown.

"Well, at least I still have my pupils," Jade joked as she started to calm down while putting the glasses back in her jacket.

"Aside from the color of my skin and eyes, everything seems normal. Now to truly test it," Jade said as she closed her eyes to concentrate.

Nothing. Like before, no ninja appeared to serve her whims. At least it meant that she was not becoming the Queen again, for now at least.

"What concerns me more is the dream… if it was a dream at all. Maybe it was a premonition?" wondered Jade.

"Well, if I'm not the Queen, then what am I? A Shadowkhan minion? No wait, to be that I would need a master and I'm not really looking forward to serving someone like Shendu or Drago," said Jade, narrowing her eyes at the remembrance of the gecko that sent her away from her family to begin with.

"I swear that you haven't seen the last of me Drago. You will not have the last laugh," said Jade in a low and dangerous tone. If she could see her eyes then she would have noticed the red glow coming from them, not to mention that her canines elongated slightly while she scowled.

Eventually Jade calmed down, making her eyes and mouth return to normal. Sighing, she moved toward the dark portal and said, "But for now, the priority is to leave this place. And if I have become a Shadowkhan, or something similar, then this time I should be able to use it and finally leave."

Jade looked intently at the portal, hesitation plain in her eyes as she struggled to move her right arm. She wondered why she was hesitating. Fear that this might prove a failure like the other attempts? Or perhaps she feared how Jackie, Uncle and Tohru would react when they see her new _look_?

"It doesn't matter. I have to try. I have no other choice," said Jade as determination filled her spirit.

Her hand passed the portal, and to her joy she felt the familiar sensation of immersing in a water puddle, although she could feel a slight push inside the portal.

"Well, this is it. So long Dullville, and hello San Francisco."

In one fluid movement, Jade moved through the portal, disappearing in mere moments.

* * *

"With Phobos imprisoned, there is no reason to maintain the Veil. I say we lift it. It is spending too much energy," said a sage.

"But can we really be sure that the new Queen can keep Phobos and his minions in prison? She is too young and inexperienced," argued another.

"And yet she and the Guardians – who are _also_ equally young – managed to defeat Phobos and his army, with the help of the Rebels admittedly. I think Queen Elyon already proved capable of dealing with her brother," stated another.

"Besides, the energy of the Veil is necessary to strengthen the Guardians, otherwise their next enemy may be their last," pointed out another sage.

"Indeed. A known and contained enemy is one thing, an unknown enemy with unknown capabilities is quite another. The Guardians will require the extra strength," said another sage.

Himerish sighed to himself. They had been going around the same subject for hours. Normally, Himerish didn't let these arguments get to him, since he knew that they were vital to the correct function of the Council. While he was the Oracle and the last word was his, he preferred to at least hear all positions and objections to base his decision on. Centuries of practice gave him an almost infinite patience and calm exterior that allowed for a better debate.

But today was different. His initial headache was getting worse and worse. While it is not to the point of angering him or giving him a foul mood, the growing headache was not letting him concentrate properly on his duties. Maybe he should postpone this reunion for now.

"My friends, listen," said Himerish, making all the sages silent as they listened carefully to what the Oracle was about to say.

"The maintenance of the Veil on Meridian is indeed a delicate subject, not only to the future of Meridian but also to the Guardians. I suggest that for now we leave the subject in suspension, while we observe how things go on Meridian in the next few days," said Himerish, keeping his face serene and his posture as relaxed as possible, regardless of the head-splitting headache.

"Do you fear that Phobos may escape, Oracle?" asked a worried Halinor.

"I have the utmost faith in the Mage to keep Prince Phobos imprisoned in the Infinite City along with his remaining forces. While there is always the possibility of his escape, what I fear is the scars left by this conflict. I know from experience that in civil wars just taking out the leaders of a faction may not end it. There is also the possibility of the emergence of a new threat from the ashes of the old. That is why I recommend that for now we maintain our vigilance on Meridian and then we will see if the Veil is still necessary or not," said Himerish.

The Council seemed to accept this course of action and in minutes they left the ample chamber. Only Himerish and Tibor remained behind.

"Forgive me the insolence, Oracle, but were you speaking the truth or was it just an excuse to rest your head?" Tibor asked, smirking slightly.

"I really can't fool you, my friend. But what I said was true. There is a good chance that Meridian is still a ticking bomb ready…"

Himerish stops in midsentence as his headache increased exponentially. The pain was now completely unbearable, which made Himerish collapse on the floor.

"Himerish, what's wrong?" asked Tibor in true concern for his old friend, to the point of even addressing him by his true name.

Tibor looked at Himerish, who had lost conscience but for some reason still had his eyes open, too much open, in fact. It seemed that Himerish was frozen in a position of emotional shock for some reason.

"Tibor, I heard the commotion. What is going…" Luba stopped as she noticed the body of Himerish being carried by Tibor with surprising dexterity and care.

"No time to explain Luba. Prepare the healing chamber and make sure that no one else sees this."

* * *

The liberation party continued until sunset, and yet the vigor of the Meridianites never faltered while they celebrated their reconquered freedom.

Bards and other musicians continued to play to the joy and happiness of the crowd. It was indeed a sight that many on Meridian thought to never see again. But now Phobos was ancient history. Now they would finally be able to live in peace and prosperity thanks to their new Queen, Elyon.

"You know, it amazes me to see how happy they are. Do they really see me as their legitimate Queen?" wondered Elyon as she rode her horse.

"More than that, Your Highness. To our people you are the symbol of light and hope to this world, the Light of Meridian," said Caleb while he walked at Elyon's side just in case.

"Caleb's right. From what I saw before, they have been waiting a long time to this day," said Cornelia, accompanying both Caleb and Elyon.

"You know, I am actually scared of the responsibilities that I have to attend now. Before, when I thought that Phobos loved me, I thought that I could count on him. But now…" said Elyon, worried of what may come.

"You don't need to worry, Your Highness. The Rebellion will help you with the transition of power. In fact, aside from Frost and the Tracker, we captured most of Phobos' forces along with him. Things should normalize once we capture every one of them," said Caleb with determination.

"Yes. For the safety of Meridian, my brother and his followers must never be free," said Elyon with a frown, thinking of Phobos, Cedric and Miranda.

Hopefully, she'd never see any of them again.

Elyon's horse started to slow even more for some reason. Also, Elyon noticed that the horse started to neigh and move his head as if afraid of something. Something or someone was scaring him.

But what?

"Look, what is that?"

"They are moving on their own. Is this part of the spectacle?"

"What is going on?" asked Caleb as he advanced several feet in front of the procession.

And then he saw shadows. Several shadows moving on the ground, animated by something else, magic perhaps?

"What is this?" asked Cornelia, mesmerized by the strange phenomenon as she approaches Caleb.

"I don't know, but we better be ready for anything. This could be a trick leftover from Phobos," Caleb said, as he unsheathed his sword.

Cornelia used her powers over Earth and levitated two rocks that floated around her.

As for Elyon, she levitated out of the frightened horse and joined her friends. If Phobos caused this, then she had the obligation to stop it.

The shadows started to converge in one point, all at once. They agglutinated with each other, forming a man-sized circle that resembled a puddle of dark water. The crowd near the puddle backed away, fearing what may happen next.

For two minutes nothing happened, but then something seemed to emerge from the circular shadow. At first it was just a tuff of black hair, but then the head that it belonged to, then came the shoulders, the chest, legs and so on. To the audience it was completely unexpected to watch a twelve-year-old blue girl emerge from the circular shadow, which was diminishing as she rose.

"What is going on around here? Who is she?" Caleb asked as he eyed the new arrival with suspicion.

"I don't know, but she is wearing Earth clothes. No doubt about it," said Elyon, looking curiously at the girl that was emerging from the shadows.

"Yeah, but whoever she is she certainly doesn't know a thing about fashion. What she is wearing, tomboy's new trends?" said Cornelia, chuckling at her own joke.

It was strange to Jade to emerge from the shadows like this. It was like she is in some sort of small elevator that was just putting her on ground level.

Still it didn't matter. What mattered was that she was free from the Shadow Realm. And now to return to her family.

"_First let me see my new surroundings and see how far I am from San Francisco_," thought Jade.

Her eyes remained closed the whole process for some reason. But now that the emerging was complete, she could finally see where she is.

Jade opened her eyes.

"Uh oh. Houston, I think we have a problem."


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N.: **At last it has arrived. And this one is indeed important since in this chapter we will see Jade's first shenanigans in the WITCH universe. Very sorry for the long delay, but I admit that I had some writer's block along with being busy playing awesome games like Bioshock Infinite. For any fan of good stories, that is one that I strongly recommend.

I also would want to say that this story will follow the model of "WITCH Light and Dark are the two halves of a Heart" of having episodes divided into more than one chapter. At first, I was set in making one chapter per episode, but I eventually found that the chapter would become too big in my opinion, so I decided to divide it into parts. Still, I think that this episode may have three parts at most, or maybe I will conclude it in the next chapter. Still, I will not make any promises.

Also, I would like to thank Eduard Kassel for the _shared _credit he gave me in the most recent chapter of Shadow of the Titans, mainly in one of the scenes. It is particularly important to me since that story was the first one I ever read since I heard of Project Dark Jade, so to know that I helped in some way to contribute to that story… frankly, I don't have the words to express my gratitude.

Anyway, thanks for enduring the wait for this chapter, and roll!

_Betaed by: _Zim'mostloyalservant

Warning note: In case some readers are not familiar with WITCH, then I strongly recommend them to watch the animated series. It is relatively easy to do it, just go to YouTube. Some points of season 2 will be revealed in different ways than in the actual episodes, like for example the extent of Nerissa's deception, will be more or less defined right in this chapter, at least for anyone that is familiar with the show, so that is why I recommend that you know of WITCH if you want to better understand the story, even if it is not essential to appreciate it.

**A is for Animosity and Anonymous, Part 1**

_A few minutes prior to Jade's arrival:_

The Infinite City. Or at least what remained of it. Ruins of an ancient civilization that seem to extend to all of Meridian through the underground. Some would say that the Infinite City went even beyond Meridian itself, perhaps even being as infinite as the universe itself. Very few knew of this never-ending underground city since most Meridianites considered it to be nothing more than a myth. Even the royal family.

But not the Rebels. The necessity of hiding and evading Phobos and his forces led them to discover and explore many parts of the city, and yet even they knew very little of its secrets. In fact, the only person that knew the most of this place was a being that was simply known as "the Mage".

And in the Mage's workshop, someone was working. A very old woman, with long grey hair and wearing a blue garment, was simply standing in front of a cauldron. Her reflection on the bubbling liquid's surface revealed a face with several dry wrinkles, two golden eyes, and a scar on her left eye.

"Perfect, it is ready," said the old woman with satisfaction.

Her left arm, which was covered by a metal gantlet, rose, and from the effervescent liquid a blue jewel was revealed, attached to a golden set piece connected to a golden chain firmly held in the old woman's hand.

"Yes, the jewel from Wiera's crown is ready. A necklace truly fitting for the new queen, no matter how short her rule lasts," said the old woman, smiling maliciously at the thought.

Satisfied with her work, the old woman turned and her form changed, as lines of light moved up her body. Now she looked a completely different creature, with a bald head and tattoos on her face. Despite no longer looking human, it was visible that she was old. This form was of the "Mage", at least to the Rebels and even to Kandrakar itself.

"Now, before I go to meet the new queen, it should be prudent to see if those fools are following my instructions. I swear, I still don't understand why they insist on keeping Phobos and his men alive…"

The "Mage" stopped abruptly, as she felt something, a disturbance in the Veil. For a minute she could have sworn to feel someone entering Meridian. But it was impossible – the Veil around Meridian prevented most attempts at entering or leaving this world. The only reliable way to cross a Veil was through portals, either formed naturally or by someone opening one.

"But that was not the case. Even an open portal releases a specific disturbance in the Veil when used, unlike what I felt. Whatever arrived, did not come through a portal," mused the "Mage".

That prompted the question of what had arrived. What kind of magic could in a sense _bypass_ the Veil without forcing its way on it?

"It doesn't matter. As long it doesn't interfere with my plans, then it can do whatever it wants. Maybe it will occupy the Guardians and Elyon for a time," said the "Mage" as she turned to the door, ready to leave the workshop.

* * *

_At the same time, in the procession:_

Yan Lin watched the procession with a smile on her face. She may no longer be a Guardian herself, but even now she could still feel the satisfaction of seeing a world being saved from an evil tyrant. How many times had she and her companions witnessed the same sight when they were the Guardians? Too many to even count.

But of course there were memories of what happened to two of them, too. Even now she still remembered the tragedy that involved both Nerissa and Cassidy.

Shaking her mind from those depressing thoughts, Yan Lin resumed watching the festivities along with the current Guardians… well, four of them at least, not to mention Matt Olsen.

And then she felt it. The slight disturbance that indicated that someone, or something, had just arrived in Meridian. And not from a portal, which was what shocked the old woman. Her widened eyes caught the attention of her granddaughter, Hay Lin, who touched her grandmother's shoulder.

"You okay, grandma?"

"Oh, it's you, Hay Lin. Sorry, I spaced out for a minute. It's nothing dear, don't worry," said Yan Lin as she composed herself. Contrary to her, neither Hay Lin nor her friends had sensed the disturbance, mainly because of their lack of experience. Even Elyon couldn't have felt the new arrival.

Hay Lin could see that her grandmother was hiding something, but before she could ask her more, the procession seemed to come to a halt. The guards that were marching ahead of Elyon, Cornelia, and Caleb turned and started to move in the opposite direction, where both Elyon and the others were.

"Okay, that is not a good sign," said Irma as she and the others witnessed the sudden change. The girls started to fly and head in the direction of the guards.

"Excuse me, what happened? Why are you all heading back?" asked Will as she caught the attention of one of the guards.

"We were convoked to assist Queen Elyon and Captain Caleb. Apparently some unknown creature appeared right in front of them. There is the possibility of being a creation of Phobos," said the guard.

"But I thought that Phobos and all of his creatures at the palace were caught by Elyon. Are you sure that the creature is really one of them?" asked Taranee, joining in the conversation.

"Like I said, Guardian, there is the possibility of it being an enemy. Besides, a blue girl appearing from the shadows is not normal even in our world," said the guard.

"From the shadows? Are you sure?" asked Yan Lin with interest in her voice.

"That's what I heard, my lady," said the guard.

Yan Lin mused about this information. Could this be connected to the disturbance in the Veil that she felt? If so, how was it possible?

"Maybe we should fly ahead and check with Cornelia and the others," Will suggested.

"Yes, go. We will catch up with you later. Just be careful – an unknown enemy represents more of a threat than a known one," said Yan Lin.

"As if we could lose to some blue girl. I bet that Caleb will have her captured by the time we get there," said Irma with a semblance of arrogance.

The Guardians took off in the direction of Elyon and the others, leaving Matt and a very thoughtful Yan Lin behind.

* * *

"_This is unexpected."_

Considering her current predicament, that thought was more than valid. Instead of seeing buildings, a street or avenue, Jade found herself in the middle of a village consisted of small houses with a medieval look. In the distance, she could even see a magnificent castle on a hill. Her first guess was that she somehow had landed in some old European village, considering the architecture of her surroundings.

But then she saw the crowd. While most seemed human, she could clearly see that others were something else. Sure, they still look humanoid and were not butt ugly like a demon or an Oni, but still grey skinned, or green or blue along with some of them being big hulking individuals (while not as big as Tohru) clearly indicated their non-human origin.

Then again, Jade herself didn't look like a human being right now. Maybe that is why they seemed to be aware of her?

"Where am I?" whispered Jade to herself.

"Hey you!"

Jade turned to the sound of a male voice. She found a boy and two girls staring at her, the boy and the older girl that looked like a fairy both in defensive positions. The younger girl with two braids of hair was merely looking at her, much less aggressively than the other two, although she seemed cautious of Jade.

But it was the older fairy girl that caught Jade's attention, mainly because she was levitating two rocks.

"_Do fairies have earth powers? Or is she affected by the Earth Demon chi? If so, where are the horns?" _thought Jade, looking at the longhaired, blonde fairy-like girl. If she had powers similar or related to the Demon Sorcerers, then Jade was in real trouble.

"Who are you? Are you a spy from Phobos?" demanded the boy, with a threatening tone that caught Jade's attention.

"Phobos? Who the heck is Phobos?" asked Jade with confusion in her voice.

"Don't lie to us," said Caleb more aggressively than before.

"Calm down Caleb. She may not be in league with my brother. I don't remember seeing her around the palace," said Elyon in a calm tone.

That also seemed to make Caleb to relax a little, even though he still scowled at Jade.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, but you have not seen all the creatures that your brother created. This small one may be a recent addition," said Caleb in a respectful tone toward Elyon.

Now it was Jade's turn to scowl at Caleb.

"_Creature? Small?"_ Jade thought in annoyance.

"Caleb's right. This… thing could have been created to spy on us in Heatherfield after Cedric left. It would explain why it's dressed in Earth clothes, even if strange ones," accused Cornelia.

"Hey, I am not a creature or a spy, you baka. Also, what is wrong with my clothes?" said Jade in an annoyed tone.

"_Wait, baka?"_

Where had that come from? While she knew a little Japanese, she never had mixed it with English. Heck, she could even talk perfect English without mixing it with Chinese words or expressions, unlike Uncle.

Perhaps another side effect of her transformation?

If Jade had been more aware of the other three, she would have noticed them flinch slightly after her outburst. Mainly because of her red glowing eyes and longer canines that suddenly appeared in her mouth, even if it only lasted for a few seconds.

For a minute, Elyon remembered the coronation at Phobos… no, _her_ palace a few hours ago. More precisely, she remembered when Miranda, who she trusted as her friend, revealed her true, monstrous self. And now she wondered if this… blue girl was not playing the same game as Miranda. It may be nothing more than a disguise to hide the true monster until it decided to strike when they least expected it.

Besides, her sudden emergence from a collective of shadows was another factor to not trust her. To Elyon, shadows and anything related to them were practically synonymous of evil.

Elyon sighs in resignation and said, "You are both right. After what happened, I cannot let any of my brother's minions roam free."

Elyon raised her right arm, her hand pointed at Jade. Both Caleb and Cornelia visibly relaxed, with Caleb putting his sword back into its sheath and Cornelia dispelling her two rocks.

"Whoa! Let's not jump to conclusions. I don't know what beef you have with this Phobos guy, but I assure you I have nothing to do with him," said Jade, trying to stop whatever this blonde queen was preparing to do. If the other blonde could control rocks and stones, then there was no telling to what this one could do.

"Sorry, but for now we will detain you. Then we will see if you are telling the truth or not," said Elyon as her palm glowed white.

Jade started to back away but before she could flee she saw some strange distortion in the air around her. Flashes of green light seemed to appear from thin air. For a few seconds, these flashes continued but eventually they died down, much to the surprise of the one called Elyon and the other two.

"She's still here. But how?" Caleb asked.

"I don't know. She should have been in the dungeons by now," said Elyon while looking at both her hands.

The word "dungeons" was all the motivation that Jade needed to do what she should have done from the very beginning. Flee from these three lunatics.

"Not that this wasn't an interesting experience, but if you have nothing more to show me… sayonara," Jade said as she quickly turned and started to run from them.

"QUICK. AFTER HER!" yelled Caleb as he started to run after the blue girl.

"Right behind you Caleb!" Cornelia said as she took off and pursues the girl.

"CATCH HER UNHARMED IF POSSIBLE! I STILL WANT KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!" yelled Elyon after her two friends. She then resumed looking at her hands again, as if trying to understand what went wrong with the teleportation spell.

* * *

White. And black. Strangely, what Himerish first saw as he regained his conscience were these two colors. Or at least, a predominance of them.

A minute ago, the headache that was plaguing him for hours seemed to completely block whatever thoughts he was having, making his consciousness slip, even though he remembered that he never closed his eyes.

If he were a machine, it would be that he simply had a shutdown. And it was not that far from the truth.

But now that he was regaining his consciousness, or seemed to be regaining it anyway, he realized that he was not in Kandrakar. In fact, he didn't recognize his whereabouts. Wherever he was, it seemed to be an enormous white expanse on the ground level, with a black sky filled with several brilliant stars. Strangely, each star cast a shadow on the white ground. Enormous shadows that Himerish felt to be… dangerous. He could feel a strange hunger or desire in each of them, as if they would swallow him if he got too close. Fortunately, the stars increased their brightness, as if restraining the monstrous shadows they cast.

And now that he took a better look at the stars, he noticed that one of them, in the middle, had a strange ring around it. No, it was not a ring. As the star moved closer to him, he could see that it was five balls of different colors – pink, blue, orange, green and purple – moving in a circle around the star.

And what surprised Himerish the most were the symbols in the five balls, since they represented the elements – Water, Fire, Earth, Air and Quintessence.

"_The Aurameres? But then that star is…"_

Before Himerish could ponder more about this, he felt something strange at his side. As he turned to look, he noticed a small shadow, one that was not connected to any of the stars. In fact, it was not connected to anything that could cast it. A lone small shadow, practically insignificant when compared to the other monstrous ones, and yet Himerish felt that something was not right, that this shadow didn't belong here. Even the big ones had a sense of being part of this place, along with the stars that cast them, the Aurameres, and Himerish felt that even he belonged here. But the small shadow was definitely an intruder, an unknown outsider.

And as if agreeing with him, the star with the circling Aurameres moved toward the small shadow. The pink Auramere launched lightning at it, which the shadow evaded by moving to the side. Then the blue one fired a stream of water. Again the shadow evaded the attack. Then a volley of fire, rocks that materialized from nowhere, a gust of air; in short, the Aurameres were clearly attacking the shadow, which was mostly evading the attacks while trying to escape the pursuing star and the Aurameres.

Sometimes the shadow got too close to the star, sprouting tendrils that nearly touched it. But at the last minute every time, the star evaded the tendrils and counterattacked. Eventually, it seemed that the small shadow was completely outmatched and it was only a matter of time until the Aurameres would strike at it.

But then something unexpected happened.

Either by mistake or sheer desperation, the small shadow merged with one of the big ones, which made it impossible to distinguish one from the other. The ground suddenly trembled, almost knocking Himerish off his feet. The enormous shadow that the small one had merged with lifted off the ground, while it separated from its star, whose brightness dimmed. Two red eyes opened in the shadow, eyes without any form of pupil and yet they expressed the shadow's hunger and desire to swallow whatever it could.

The Aurameres seemed to tremble like the ground, like they seemed to fear this new entity. Yet they attacked the shadow with their elements, striking at it with even more energy than before. But their efforts seemed to be for naught, as the shadow seemed completely unharmed, as if the attacks did nothing against it.

The shadow's eyes narrowed, and a raspy voice, like a hiss, emanated from it.

"Come forth!"

From its main body, several small shadows emerged from, similar to the previous small one. In an instant, these shadows surrounded the almost dimmed star, and without warning they attacked it. Or more precisely, they covered the star completely, leaving no trace of its presence.

More small shadows sprouted from the large one, these now advancing toward the star with the Aurameres. Again the Aurameres attacked, scorching some of the shadows with lightning, but more came to replace the small ones.

While the Auramares were busy with the never-ending army of small shadows, the big one moved in the direction of the nearest shadow still connected to its star. Himerish could see its intentions – it wanted to absorb another one, and if it was not stopped, it could disrupt the balance in this place even more.

But before Himerish could do anything, he felt that he was sinking. Looking at his feet, he saw that they weren't there at all, only a small dark puddle that he was slowly sinking into. He tried to call on his powers, but to no avail. He was trapped.

With his head still out of the puddle, Himerish saw the Aurameres still fighting the small shadows, but he could see that they were in a losing battle. Turning his eyes, he still had time to see the enormous shadow standing at its target. And he could see that the shadow now had a face, the face of a young girl with short black hair that reached its shoulders (or would if she had them). Her mouth opened, revealing two long canines, as if she was readying herself to eat the other shadow.

"_It looks like a… child? But how…"_

And then his head was gone, leaving nothing but the dark puddle in his place.

* * *

"LOOK OUT! HERE SHE COMES!"

"IT'S PHOBOS' VENGEANCE UPON US!"

"STOP HER! DON'T LET HER ESCAPE!"

"Bad day. Bad day. Bad day. Bad day."

Jade continuously chanted those two words as she flees into the crowd. Fortunately, she didn't have to force her way since most of them were either letting her pass or trying to evade her. On the other hand, it made it impossible for her to mix and evade her pursuers.

Looking back, Jade saw that the boy named Caleb was still after her, being followed by the blonde fairy and a group of what she assumed to be soldiers or guards.

"_Where the heck did that blasted portal send me to?" _Jade thought as she continued her escape attempt.

"Caleb, if I cause an earthquake, then we can…"

"NO, THERE ARE TOO MANY CIVILIANS IN THE STREETS! THEY MAY GET HURT!" shouted Caleb to Cornelia as they continued pursuing the blue girl.

"But if we don't do anything, she'll escape!" Cornelia shouted back.

Caleb realized that Cornelia was right. The blue girl was faster than them, and was starting to gain considerable distance from them.

"Blast," Caleb whispered to himself. If she turned down an alley now, then they would most likely lose her.

Jade smiled to herself as she gained more and more distance. Now all she had to do was to turn into one of the small streets and lose her pursuers once and for all. And she was looking at the appropriate street to lose them.

"_Now all I have to do is turn and…"_

Jade thoughts were interrupted as a volley of fire struck right in front of her. Surprised by the sudden attack, she fell on her back. For a second, as she looked at the flames now in front of her, Jade thought back to Drago and Shendu. They couldn't have been after her too, could they?

"Nice going Taranee!" Cornelia said from afar.

Jade looked up and noticed four more girls with similar outfits to the blonde's – a redhead, a brunette, an African-American and a girl of Asian ancestry, Chinese if Jade was not mistaken.

And the African-American with ridiculous hair and glasses was the one that shot fire at her, at least Jade assumed so by looking at her fire-engulfed hands.

"Now we got you."

Jade stood up and turned back, noticing that her pursuers had finally caught up with her. And with the fairies above her, including the blonde one, Jade was effectively surrounded.

"_Now what?"_ Jade thought as she tried to find an opening to escape again.

"Thanks, for a minute I thought she would get away. But what are you doing here?" Cornelia asked the others.

"We saw the procession stop and one guard told us what was happening, so we decided to come and help in any way we could. We even heard some people shouting that Phobos had returned and Meridian was doomed or something. Then Taranee saw that blue girl trying to escape from you and Caleb so she intervened. By the way, who is she?" asked Will.

"You mean _what _is she. I doubt that she is Vathek's cousin," Irma cut in.

"I don't know, but Caleb is worried that she might be one of Phobos' creatures. She denied when we interrogated her," Cornelia replied.

"Obviously lying. I mean, if you worked for a now deposed evil prince, you wouldn't admit it, right?"

"And she _was_ running from you," Hay Lin pointed out.

"Yeah, but Elyon doesn´t remember seeing her in the palace. And when she tried to zap her to the dungeons in the Infinite City, it didn't work," Cornelia said.

"That _is_ strange," said Will.

"But are you all sure that she is really one of Phobos' henchman? For all we know, she might be innocent," countered Taranee.

"You're kidding, right? I mean, look at her!" said Irma.

"Yes, and despite her skin and eye color, she still looks human-like, don't you think?" argued Taranee.

"Now that you mention it, you're right Taranee," said Will, taking a better look at the blue girl. Indeed, she would pass as a human kid, slightly younger than them in fact, if not for her other traits. Not to mention her clothes were of obvious Earth origin, even if strange ones.

"Yeah. And she looks Chinese too, for some reason," Hay Lin added.

While the girls were arguing with each other, Jade saw that Caleb and the soldiers were advancing. Looking back at the flames, Jade considered the only way to escape from them – a very stupid and desperate idea, even for her.

But right now she didn't have many options.

"Uh, not wanting to interrupt, but I think that she's trying to escape," said Irma as she looked back at the blue girl.

"WHAT?!" exclaimed the others.

Indeed, they caught the blue girl jumping several feet into the air, passing above the flames and landing on the opposite side, safe and uninjured.

"Well, so much for her being human," said Irma.

Caleb and the guards stared dumbfound at what had just happened. Those flames were at least the height of an adult man. How could someone so small jump so high?

If he had any doubts of her being a minion of Phobos, then they were completely dispelled after witnessing her display.

"QUICK, TURN AROUND!" yelled Caleb as he and the guards started to move around the fire.

On the other side of the flames, which were now reduced significantly, Jade stopped in shock at what she had accomplished. She passed a wall of fire, twice her height at least, in a single jump. Sure, she took that action in order to escape her pursuers, but she never expected it to work so well. And she did it without much effort.

And of course she suspected that her speed had increased too. She could never run that fast before as she did a few moments ago. Remembering the Shadowkhan ninjas, she knew that they were capable of amazing feats, capable of matching and even surpassing Jackie. Could she have gained similar capabilities?

"I know I shouldn't like it, but this is so cool. I need to try climbing walls later," Jade said to herself, already thinking of new ways to try out her new abilities.

The sound of footsteps stopped her musing, as Caleb and the soldiers finally walked around the fire barrier and spotted her.

"QUICK, GRAB HER!" Caleb yelled.

Two guards ran and jumped in the hope of catching her, but Jade merely leaped to the side, which resulted in the two guards crashing on the floor.

"Ha, ha! You have to do better than that!" Jade mocked the infuriated Caleb.

"Like this?"

The unknown upbeat voice caught Jade by surprise. Before she could turn, the Chinese fairy unleashed a current of air, knocking Jade off her feet.

"You can all control the elements? What are you, the Fairy Sorcerers?" Jade asked in surprise as she stared at the flying fairies.

The girls look at each other in slight confusion, before Will answered.

"Okay, first of all, we're not fairies. In case you haven't heard about us, we are W.I.T.C.H.!" said Will with some pride in her voice.

"Huh, isn't that the same as being a sorceress?" Jade asked in confusion.

"We are not real witches. It's just the name of our group. Seriously, how dense can a bad guy be?" Irma wondered.

"Hey, I'm not a bad guy," protested Jade in indignation.

"You can stop with your lies. With what you are capable of, either Phobos created you or recruited you from somewhere. It doesn't matter either way, if your master couldn't beat the Guardians, then you have no chance of doing it yourself. Surrender now and join your master in the dungeons," Caleb said, smiling smugly, as he and the guards unsheathed their swords.

This guy was really pushing Jade's buttons. Either he was a hero of this… place or thought himself to be one; either way, she never had encountered someone so shortsighted. Maybe Jackie followed a very strict code of morals and tried to drill that into her, but at least he was not that intolerant to others that didn't follow his beliefs. Even with Viper, he was at most annoyed by her _lifestyle_ than truly condemning her, not to mention he and Uncle gave Tohru a chance when others, even Jade herself at the time, were not that forgiving. And of course, there was Jackie's infinite patience when dealing with her _misdeeds._

But this guy resembled one of those comic book heroes with a much too narrowed view that only saw black and white, with no grey in the middle. And to think, she thought that was cool once.

Well, if he wanted to be stubborn and paranoid, that was _his_ problem. But he would not put her in detention, a permanent detention.

Not now, not ever.

"Sorry, but you have to make some effort if you want to catch me," Jade said as she narrowed her eyes.

Jade was preparing to flee again, but once again one of the fairies struck at her, with a torrent of water this time.

"WHAT THE… GLUP! GLUP!"

Whatever Jade wanted to say was interrupted as she struggled with the continuous water being sent at her.

"But you must stay. We'll help you get clean…" Irma said in a mocking tone as she continued to send the water at the blue girl.

"…And send you to your room," Hay Lin added, giggling.

"Yes, with a lovely view of your roommates. Or is it cellmates?" Cornelia asked, smirking.

Irma stopped the water, thinking that the girl was knocked out by now. But to their surprise, the blue girl stood up slowly, her body dripping water. She turned to them, her eyes now glowing red and with long fangs sprouting from her mouth.

"That wasn't funny!" Jade said in a quiet and yet dangerous tone, with an obvious edge on her voice, as if she was near the point of complete rage.

"Then surrender. You clearly have no chance at winning," Taranee said, the only one not interested in mocking her adversary. Something told her that the girl was starting to get angry. _Very_ angry, in fact.

As the girls landed near Caleb and the guards, shadows started to move toward them, surrounding them without them even realizing it.

Jade's red, pupil-less eyes glowed even more, as she opened her fanged mouth in a shout.

"I THINK NOT!"

Suddenly tendrils emerged from the shadows, surprising the girls and the others.

"What the…"

Caleb couldn't say anything else as two tendrils grabbed both his arms.

"CALEB!"

Cornelia wanted to help Caleb, but two tendrils also grabbed her arms. And the same was happening with the other girls and the guards.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" Irma yelled as she struggled against her tendrils.

"I THINK THAT SHE´S DOING THIS, BUT I´M NOT SURE HOW!" Taranee shouted back, also struggling.

"YOU WILL NOT STOP US!" Will shouted at the blue girl in defiance.

"Funny, because I think you are pretty much stopped," said Jade, her voice slightly distorted.

"YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!" shouted Caleb as he glared at the blue girl, while still struggling furiously against his bonds.

Jade's eyes narrowed and the tendrils increased their hold on their captives, forcing them on the ground.

"No, you are the ones who won't get away with pursuing me, insulting me, and humiliating me," Jade said as she sneered at them.

While Caleb and the guards still looked at the girl in defiance despite no longer being able to struggle, the girls were actually feeling helpless and slightly fearful of the blue girl. It was either the fact that they couldn't use their powers in their current predicament, or the way the girl was looking at them. Perhaps both reasons.

"I will give you baka the beating that you deserve. And then I will open those heads of yours and feast on your brains. If you have them that is," Jade said as a long tongue emerged from her mouth, licking her lips in a hungry manner.

The girls' eyes widened in actual fear as they thought of the blue girl's nails – which had grown a few inches and now looked extremely sharp – penetrating their craniums. Even Caleb and the guards were slightly shocked at her statement.

"Yes, feasting on your brains will be a nice payback for what you did to…"

Jade stopped her threat as she looked at her reflection in a small puddle of water. The red eyes, the fangs, the sharp nails. Realization came to Jade as she remembered what she was about to do. What she had said before. What she was thinking and feeling. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized that she was just about ready to kill her pursuers.

"No… what am I… no, I don't want to do this…"

Her mumbles caught the Guardians and their allies by surprise. The murderous rage that seemed to emanate from the girl was gone now. In fact, she now looked confused, frightened, and filled with remorse.

"NO! I WILL NOT BECOME LIKE THAT AGAIN!"

Jade's desperate shout echoed toward the shadowy tendrils, which dispersed and released their captives. As the shadows dispersed, the group slowly got to their feet, looking at the kneeling blue girl who was still looking at her own reflection.

"Why did she release us? She could have killed us when she had the chance," Caleb whispered, now confused about what had happened.

"I think that she didn't want to kill us after all," Will said, also surprised.

"Oh please, then what was that talk about feasting on our brains or something?" Irma asked, frustrated.

"I didn't mean to."

They all turned their attention to the blue girl, who was also looking at them. Her eyes, teeth and nails had returned to normal and she was looking at them with remorse, and almost in a plea.

"I… I really didn't mean to hurt you. I was just so angry. Something… something was done to me. Something that I can't control. You've got to help me, please. I need your…"

A flash of light interrupted Jade. Before she could even look back, a white energy beam collided with her and forced her to the ground. But that was not all. Jade started to shriek in pain, as she felt the luminous energy coursing through her body. To her, it felt that she was being burned alive.

WITCH and the others looked in surprise to the one that was attacking the blue girl – Elyon, with her face set in an angry scowl.

"You will not hurt anyone anymore. I will make sure of that," Elyon said in a harsh tone, as in her mind memories of Miranda and her betrayal replayed over and over again.

This girl was clearly no different than that awful spider.

The beam intensified, along with Jade's pain. The crowd watched in awe at the display of power, unsure if they should support their Queen or assisting a young girl that was screaming in pain right in front of them.

"STOP! PLEASE STOP IT! IT'S BURNING! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP! JAAAAAACKIEEEEEE!"

The blue girl's plea awoke Cornelia from her stupor. Her eyes turned to her friend Elyon, looking at her angry visage. She remembered seeing her like that once before, at one of the last battles between the Rebels and Phobos' forces. Elyon was so angry back then that she actually stopped the raging battle with her power alone, leaving many injured on both sides. It was actually a wonder that no one had died back then, considering Elyon's overwhelming display.

It was also the first time that she saw a side of Elyon that she didn't know, a side that even Elyon herself was unaware of. Whether it was because of her power or not, Elyon's anger added to her near limitless power, ultimately bringing more harm than good to anyone around.

She had to stop this. Even if the blue girl was an enemy, she didn't deserve to be hurt like that.

"ELYON, STOP! IT´S ENOUGH, WE CAUGHT HER!" Cornelia shouted.

Elyon looked at Cornelia in surprise, clearly not expecting that reaction from her friend.

"Are you kidding me? I saw what she was doing to you, what she said she would do. Why should I stop?" Elyon asked with evident anger in her voice.

"BECAUSE YOU ARE HURTING HER! LOOK A HER BURNS!" shouted Cornelia.

Elyon looked at the blue girl and her eyes widened. Burn marks were starting to appear on Jade's skin. And they seemed too red to be superficial. She was literally burning the blue girl alive.

Now shocked by what she was doing, Elyon stopped the beam. As the luminous energy disappeared, so did Jade's screams. Only the numbness in her body remained, along with the red burn marks on her skin. Still, Jade was mumbling something, calling for someone with a very weak voice:

"Jackie, Uncle, Tohru, please help. Please."

Then Jade passed out, completely unconscious.

"Oh, what was that?" asked a very shocked Hay Lin.

"I'm sorry, I… I don't know what came over me. She said all of those awful things; it angered me. I…" Elyon mumbled as remorse started to creep in on her heart.

"It's okay Elyon. It's okay," Cornelia said in a reassuring tone while holding her friend's hands in a soothing manner.

"You don't need to feel sorry, your Highness, the girl was a threat. You simply stopped her," said Caleb.

"I have my doubts."

Everyone's eyes turned to Will in surprise, as she watched the blue girl.

"Not wanting to make you feel bad with yourself, Elyon, but she was practically pleading for help when you attacked her," Will said.

"She could be bluffing," Caleb retorted.

"Or she was being sincere. Right now we don't have any way of knowing which one," said Taranee.

"I admit that I am starting to have my own doubts, Caleb," said Cornelia.

"Well, I don't. Don't you all remember of what she nearly did to us a few minutes ago? She is dangerous," Irma said.

"If having a bad temper makes someone dangerous, then what am I?" Elyon asked, downcast.

"Oh Elyon, I didn't mean to…" Irma started in an apologetic tone.

"I know Irma, but the fact is after what I almost did I can't simply arrest her without knowing who she is. What if we are condemning an innocent?" said Elyon.

Caleb noticed that most of them had doubts now, so he decided to change tactics in order to appease his Queen and the girls.

"I understand your doubts, Your Highness, but the fact is that this girl may prove to be a threat to our world, our people. So I ask if you let me and my companions deal with this. Let me take her to the Infinite City so that the Mage can see her. If she says that the girl is not one of Phobos' followers and presents no threat to Meridian, then we will release her," said Caleb.

"You need the Mage to do that?" asked Taranee.

"The Mage knows many things about our world that practically no other Meridianite does. If the blue girl is some creature of our world or a magical creation of Phobos, she will know," said Caleb.

"And in case she is not an enemy of Meridian, then we can help her. Maybe Yan Lin could assist us," Will added.

Elyon pondered the suggestions. After a few moments, she turned to Caleb and said, "Very well Caleb. Take her to the Infinite City, but treat her wounds. For now she is considered a guest."

"Of course, my Queen." said Caleb.

* * *

A few moments later, the guards were able to calm the crowd and Elyon announced that the festivities would continue despite the incident. The crowd let out cheers of excitement, and the blue girl affair was practically forgotten to most of them.

As the procession resumed, Caleb and a guard who was carrying the unconscious Jade left the scene. After walking for a few moments, they reached a chariot, which housed a steel cage in it. Two other guards were already there, waiting orders.

"Before you put her in there, chain her around her torso and arms. And cuff her feet, too. I don't want any more escape attempts," Caleb ordered.

"Should we take her to the infirmary first to treat her wounds?" asked a guard.

"No, you will take her to the cell area. The Mage is already there overseeing the spells that keep the prisoners in their cells. Also, wake her when you arrive. Phobos' reaction will tell us if she is one of them or not," Caleb said.

The guard carrying Jade opened the door and dropped her in the floor, shutting the cage with a resounding sound.

** Continues in part 2**


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N.:** Again, sorry for the delay in the previous chapter. Fortunately, they may come faster, at least for the moment.

Thank goodness that you all seemed to enjoy the previous chapter. Truth be told, I was afraid of some may not like that I _hurt_ Jade so much, but it was needed to the plot, for the immediate and long term future. In order to make more believable, considering Jade's personality, I had to make a scene where even she would yield or cry in pain and panic, like being burned alive for example (then again, who wouldn't?), but I actually felt that maybe I was going a little too far. Not to mention that I may have made Elyon act a little out of character, but then again in some episodes of WITCH we could see how devastating her anger was, not caring who and what it strikes. But still, I think that she was the best logical choice to strike against Jade, mainly because the nature of both at this point, the old Light versus Shadow topic.

Anyway, if some may be too worried for Jade, don't be. This chapter will prove it right from the start.

Also, the episode ends next chapter, but it may take a while since I will be on a vacation for at least half a month, but still I will try to put it at the end of June.

Betaed by: Zim´sMostLoyalServant

**A is for Animosity and Anonymous**

**Part 2**

The chariot moved, being pulled by two rhinoceros-like creatures, one guard conducting them while the other two were walking along the chariot. Eventually, one of them started a conversation with the others.

"Maybe one of us should be in the cage with her? In case she tries anything?"

"With her injuries? I doubt that she has the strength to even stand up, much less walk or run. And let us not forget how we chained her," the other walking guard responded.

"Perhaps you are right. I mean, she _is_ just a child. How much trouble can she be?" the first one asked.

"Don't be fooled by her appearance."

The two walking guards turn their attention the one that was conducting the chariot, the same one who had carried and chained the blue girl before putting her in the cage.

"You two weren't there when she snapped. She restrained a dozen of us, the Captain, _and_ the Guardians. Can you imagine a mere child doing that?" asked the driver.

"How did she do it?" asked one of the walking ones.

"Shadows, I think. Strangest thing I have ever seen, and _that_ is saying something," responded the guard.

"Even the Guardians? No wonder the Captain was so adamant in keeping her contained," said another guard.

"Do you think that she really is one of Phobos' minions? I mean, I never saw her at the palace," said another one.

"Neither did I or any of us, if I dare to say. Maybe she truly is a recent experiment of Phobos'. Still, I personally think that she is dangerous. The way she looked at us, what she said about eating our brains… for a moment I thought that I was looking at a larvek ready to eat us alive," said the driver.

The two walking guards shivered at the thought of that. One of them peeked inside the cage, looking at the unconscious chained girl who was shivering, not from cold but in pain, from the red burns covering her skin.

"Still, I don't know who is more frightening, our prisoner or the Queen's wrath," said the guard.

"Considering her, I would say the Queen," said the other guard.

The two guards laughed at their joke, while the chariot moved toward one of the entrances to the Infinite City, a hole in the ground covered by energy beams. As the chariot stopped, the driver left the chariot and says to the others, "I will go tell Vathek and the others about the new prisoner. Meanwhile, you two stay and guard her, understand?"

The two guards stiffened their position, ready to do their duty. Satisfied with this, the driver headed toward the entrance and moved a salience, which was the mechanism that dispersed the beams, allowing him passage.

Meanwhile, while the guards were standing in front of the cage, Jade was moving in her sleep, visibly flinching each time she rolled over her body, as if trying to find a more comfortable position. Alas for naught, since at least one of her burns would contact the floor, causing pain.

"It hurts. Make it stop, please," mumbled Jade as she tried another position, again with no success.

Nearby shadows suddenly moved in the direction of the chariot, two groups moving from each side and avoiding the guards at the gate. When they reached each side the shadows climbed the chariot and then penetrated through the open spaces between the cage's bars, moving in the direction of Jade's prone body. Eventually the two groups reached Jade, starting to cover her body.

Jade flinched at the cold touch of them, but then she calmed down, as her body started to feel relief and the pain started to subside. If she were awake, she would see that some shadows were covering her burns and their touch was actually healing them. It started small at first, but eventually the burned flesh was healthy again, and her blue skin started to re-grow, good as new.

But that was not all. Other shadows were covering her clothes, avoiding the chains and covering them in what appeared to be black goo. Then the goo started to morph, changing Jade's clothes along with it. The black jacket, her trousers, the boots, they all turned into another set of clothes, a uniform that would be very familiar to Jade when she awoke.

"He, he, he! It tickles," Jade said, giggling, which caught the attention of one of the guards.

"First she mumbles and now she giggles like a madwoman. I can already tell that this one will give us nothing but…"

The guard stopped in midsentence as he saw the shadows covering the blue girl. His companion also turned to see inside the cage and was also shocked at what he saw.

"By the sword of the Escanor, what is going on?" one of the guards asked.

"I don't know. Quick, open the gate," said the other guard.

As the gate was opened, the shadows stopped whatever they were doing and dispersed with lightning speed, leaving a still sleeping Jade who was now completely healed and with new clothes, ones that were also foreign to the guards.

"I hope that the others take her in soon. I don't think that I can take any more surprises until the end of my shift," said one of the guards.

* * *

The sound of fireworks aboveground echoed in the halls of the Infinite City. Night had finally come and the day of their liberation was coming to an end, with one last celebration to go, supposedly the greatest.

But not to all. Beyond the cascade in the "Mage's" chamber was a complex of cells, each one barred with energy beams, that were placed in a circle, with several floors both above and below the control platform placed in the middle. In these cells were the only Meridianites who wouldn't celebrate Meridian's liberation: Prince Phobos, the tyrant that up until today had ruled them with an iron fist; two of his top lieutenants, the shapeshifters Cedric and Miranda; and the majority of the Lurden race that were residing in the palace. All of them caught by Elyon and imprisoned to not only pay for what they did but to also be kept at bay, permanently if possible.

"You are relieved of duty. Now go enjoy the party," said one of the new wardens of the dungeon complex, named Drake, who was also one of the Rebels' leaders.

Three of the Rebels that were guarding the prisoners nodded to their superior in satisfaction, eager to join the party that was happening outside of the Infinite City. Besides, party or not, staying too long with Phobos and his scum was not on their plans.

As they left, the "Mage" turned to the remaining wardens and said, "Do not take this assignment lightly. The evil imprisoned here must never be allowed to escape. Prince Phobos must never escape."

"Not on our watch, great Mage. Your power helped bring down this tyrant. Our strength will help you _keep_ him down," said the blue giant known as Vathek as he raised his flail in a defensive position.

Aldarn, Drake and Tynar all nodded in agreement with Vathek's statement as they also readied their weapons. The "Mage" said nothing as she simply turned from the cells and walked in the direction of the cascade at the entrance. While her face didn't betray any emotion, inside she was giddy to finally start her own plans.

"_If you knew what is going to happen in a few moments, you wouldn't make such bold statements, Vathek,"_ thought the "Mage" in satisfaction.

But halfway up her path, a lone guard passes through the cascade, heading in her direction. Slightly surprised, the "Mage" stopped and stared in curiosity at the guard, who bowed at her.

"Greetings, great Mage. I hope that I am not interrupting any of your duties, but I have a request from Captain Caleb," said the guard.

The "Mage's" heart skipped a beat. What did her s… no, what did Caleb want that was so urgent?

"What is it?" asked the "Mage" with only the slightest hint of curiosity in her voice.

"Captain Caleb asked that if you could watch over a prisoner that we captured during the procession," said the guard.

"Since when did we need such precautions for Frost? Or is it Tracker that you caught?" asked Vathek as he joined the "Mage" and the guard.

"It is not them. As far as I know, they are still at large," answered the guard.

"If it is not those two, then who did you capture?" asked the "Mage".

"During the procession, a strange blue girl appeared out of nowhere in front of the Queen and Captain Caleb. Strangest thing is that she came from the shadows…"

"What? Are you certain of this? From shadows?" asked the "Mage" as she interrupted the guard.

"Positive. I saw it myself. And she was quite a handful to capture. Fortunately, Queen Elyon subdued her and we managed to bring her here to make certain if she is connected to Phobos somehow," said the guard.

Both Vathek and the "Mage" looked at each other in surprise as if wondering the same question.

"As far as I can tell, I never saw someone like that when I pretended to serve Phobos," said Vathek.

"Nor do I recall such a creature. And she doesn't remind me of any of the races in Meridian," confirmed the "Mage".

"So, perhaps she is an experiment from him?" asked the guard.

"To be certain, I must examine her," said the "Mage" in a thoughtful tone. To be honest, she couldn't make heads or tails of this predicament. A blue girl appearing from the shadows? Of all possible scenarios, she never could have imagined something like this to occur. And it _had_ to be right when she was ready to make her move, didn't it?

Sighing, the "Mage" reminded herself that her plan was still good to go. This was just a distraction, a mere delay. Still, just to be sure, she wanted to examine this new _variable_ for herself. And she wanted to see if it had something to do with the disturbance that she felt earlier.

"Right. Aldarn, you go with him and bring her here. As soon as she is outside the cascade, the three of you can end your shifts. We will deal with her then," said Vathek to the guard.

"As you command, sir," said the guard as he joined Aldarn and both passed the cascade to head back to the chariot.

Vathek looks at the thoughtful expression on the "Mage's" face. While he wondered what she was thinking, he decided to voice his own thoughts.

"Do you want us to interrogate Phobos or any of the other prisoners before the new prisoner arrives?"

"Not yet. First I will see her and then perhaps we let Phobos and the others see her too. I imagine that's what Caleb wants us to do," said the "Mage".

Vathek simply nodded as he returned his gaze to the prisoners. Fortunately, they didn't seem to notice this intercalation. All for the better, he supposed.

* * *

"It is taking too long. The Oracle should have been awake by now."

"I know Luba, but what can we do? This chamber supposedly cures any illness. If it didn't work, then I don't know what will."

Voices. Familiar voices that Himerish was hearing this time. Was he dreaming again? Perhaps still trapped in that vision?

"Maybe we should tell the rest of the council what happened," suggested Luba.

"Not yet. Let us wait at least another hour. Maybe after that…"

"There is no need Tibor."

Himerish's voice stopped the argument between Luba and Tibor as the two sages both look at the laid out body of the Oracle, who was now opening his eyes and standing on his feet.

He had to admit that after that dreadful experience, it was good to be in the waking world once again.

"Him… I mean Oracle, it is with great relief that we see you awake and well. We actually feared some illness after you fainted, so Luba and I took you to the healing chamber," said Tibor with relief in his voice.

"I appreciate the concern, my friends, but I don't think that what made me faint was any form of illness. Otherwise I should have been awake after a few minutes of being here," said Himerish.

"But then what was it? Tibor told me that you were suffering from severe headaches for most of the day. If it didn't cause you to faint, then what did?" asked Luba.

Himerish looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he turned to Tibor and asks, "If I heard correctly, only you two know of my… indisposition, correct?"

"Yes, Oracle. We took great precaution in bringing you here," answered Tibor.

"Good. For the moment I want to keep this incident between us. At least until I decipher the meaning of my vision," Himerish said in a serious tone.

Both Luba and Tibor looked at each other in surprise.

"A vision? Really? That was the cause of your headache and faint?" Luba asked.

"Yes, at least I think it was," said Himerish.

"But you never had any of these symptoms in all of your previous visions. As a matter of fact, no Oracle ever fainted during a vision," said Tibor.

"Not necessarily, my friend," said Himerish in an enigmatic tone.

"Oracle?" Luba asked.

But Himerish didn't respond to her as he headed towards the door. After he opened the door, he turned to both Luba and Tibor and said one thing.

"Come with me to the Pillar of Fate."

* * *

SPLASH!

"AAAAHHHHH! UF! UF! UF! UF!"

The cold water that was splashed on her face and body was indeed more than enough to wake her even if she was dead. Of all the things that Jade expected that someone would do to wake her, this was definitely not on the list.

As she tries to regain her consciousness, Jade noticed what appeared to be a boy older than her with a wooden bucket in his right hand. Even in her stupor she could see that he was not human, at least not entirely. He had human features on his face but was bald with some scales at the top of his head, not to mention his green skin. The serious expression on his face meant that he was regarding her with caution.

But it still annoyed her that someone had dared to awake her in such a rude way.

"HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU DOOFUS?!" Jade shouted in indignation.

The green boy merely raised one of his eyebrows and turned to two guards that were looking at Jade with cautious, if not frightened, looks on their faces.

"Is this the _dangerous _prisoner that you brought? A small and weak girl?" Aldarn asked in disbelief.

Jade was about to shout in indignation at being called weak and small, but something that the boy said caught her attention.

"_Wait, prisoner?"_

Jade looks at her surroundings and finally noticed that she was inside a steel cage, with her only exit blocked by the green boy and three of those soldier-like creatures.

"_Oh crap,"_ cursed Jade in her thoughts.

"But it was this creature that Captain Caleb ordered us to bring, I swear Captain Aldarn," said the other guard that had returned with Aldarn.

Aldarn frowned at this. If they were telling the truth, then Caleb regarded this girl as a possible threat at the very least. If not for that he would've actually regarded her as a simple Meridianite, even if she _was_ dressed in a strange way.

"What I don't understand is why you two decided to go against the Captain's orders and heal her," said the same guard, now looking gravely at the other two.

"We didn't do anything, we swear. She did it. She called these… shadows I think, and they healed her," said one of the two guards as he tried to defend both himself and his companion.

"_Wait, heal?" _Jade thought as she looked down at her body. Even with the chains around her torso that forced her arms down, she could clearly see that her hands looked fine, with no burn marks. And now that she thought about it, she no longer felt the itching pain all around her body, which meant that her burns were now healed, if not disappeared completely.

"_While I am glad, how did that happen? I didn't bring the Horse Talisman with me…"_

Jade thoughts stopped abruptly as she realized something. Her clothes. The agent uniform that she had been wearing was gone, and worse, replaced by another familiar uniform. The uniform that the Shadowkhan ninja all wore was now covering her body. A shinobi shõzoku that seemed specifically made to her size, complete with split-toed tabi boots on her feet.

Another sign of her continued transformation into a Shadowkhan. But instead of panicking about that and how she seemed to recognize a ninja uniform by its original name, there was another more urgent worry in her mind. One that was both embarrassing and humiliating.

"You… you took my clothes? And saw me naked?" Jade whispered in a whispering tone.

"You did that?" asked Aldarn in surprise.

"Of course not! It was those shadows that did that, too!" said one of the guards, now embarrassed by the implied accusation.

"PERVERTS! FIRST I AM ACCUSED AND CHASED, THEN I AM ATTACKED AND ALMOST BURNED BY THAT CRAZY BLONDE! AND NOW THIS?! YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH OF SICK PERVERTS!" Jade yelled in anger and indignation.

Jade stood up in order to attack her captors, but before she could jump and deliver a kick to their faces, Aldarn grabbed a loosed chain and pulled it, which forced Jade to fall on the chariot's floor. As she lifted her head, her eyes locked on the angry glare that Aldarn was directing at her.

"Show the proper respect to both us and Queen Elyon, otherwise I will force that on you," Aldarn said in a threatening tone.

But to his surprise the blue girl's eyes narrowed too, glaring fiercely at him.

"That blonde chick doesn't deserve my respect. Neither do her lapdogs," Jade said with a disgusted tone in her voice.

Her defiance infuriated Aldarn to the point that he pulled the chain with both hands this time, propelling Jade out of the chariot and crashing her into the cold, unforgiving ground.

The three guards watched this altercation with shock and worried expressions. The way Aldarn was looking at her made them wonder if he was actually intending on harming her, perhaps even kill her.

"Captain, there is no need to harm the prisoner. Those were not Captain Caleb orders…"

"I think I know better than you how to treat Phobos' scum, don't you agree?" Aldarn said, glaring at the guard.

The guard was slightly surprised by his reaction, but decided to agree with him, even if only to not agitate his younger superior.

"Of course, Captain. I simply wanted to warn you to not fall for her provocations," answered the guard.

The guard's words managed to calm down Aldarn and he turned his attention to the others and said, "Very well. Vathek is waiting for me and her anyway."

The guard nodded as his other companions did the same.

"As for you, get up," Aldarn said as he pulled the chain again, though this time with much less strength.

Jade first kneeled and then stood up, with some difficulty considering that she couldn't use her arms for help and the cuffs on her feet didn't make the task any easier. Still, she did get on her feet and looked at her captors again, her gaze even more fierce than before as her red glowing eyes made all of them flinch slightly.

* * *

The fireworks displayed their colors in the night sky of Meridian. The procession had ended only a few minutes ago, and now Elyon and her friends were inside the palace, relaxing for a few moments before Elyon went outside to make her proclamation.

But while they waited, they also related to Yan Lin what had happened earlier. Of the mysterious blue girl and her power over shadows.

"Strange indeed. I can tell you that in all my years of being a Guardian I never faced a similar creature," Yan Lin said with a thoughtful expression.

"So you also don't know what she is," concluded Will.

"I'm afraid not. Perhaps the Mage can identify her or at least confirm if she is from Meridian or not," said Yan Lin.

"Well, in case she is an enemy, at least we know that Queen Elyon's power can hurt her," stated Caleb.

"Don't rush ahead, young Caleb. We don't even know if she is an enemy or not. Perhaps she is a victim of Phobos instead of a minion," said Yan Lin.

"I sincerely doubt that," mumbled Caleb in a sour tone.

Yan Lin raised her eyebrow. Strange, of all of them he seemed to be the most distrusting to the blue girl. Even if he was right, she wondered why so much… animosity. Fear, perhaps?

"If I may, perhaps we should discuss the matter after the Mage reveals her findings. Wondering too much about it is not advisable at this point," said Julian, Caleb's father, who had also joined them in the private room, along with Matt Olsen and Blunk the Passling.

"You are right. For now I simply want to rest for a few moments before the proclamation," said Elyon as she sat on a chair. Turning to Caleb, she asked, "Just one more thing. Have you dealt with her as I ordered?"

"As you instructed, Your Highness," said Caleb, bowing.

"Good, that's good," Elyon said with a sigh.

The others may have not picked up on it, but Yan Lin noticed the strange glint in his eyes as he answered Elyon. It was like he was not being truthful, or at least not completely.

She didn't like it, and started to wonder if it was actually a good idea to let the Rebels deal with the girl after all.

* * *

"Keep moving."

Aldarn's words were accentuated by the pull that he gave on the chain, forcing Jade to continue walking. Of course she kept a sour look on her face as she glared at him and the three guards that were behind her.

However, her new surroundings were also catching her attention. She had to admit that one of the things that she did like of Jackie being an archaeologist was the new places that he discovered or explored. Either a temple or tomb, or perhaps even a lost city, it was the part that she enjoyed most of Jackie's job. The adventure, the danger, the unknown. A pity that his job also had boring parts like excavating or brushing.

If Jackie were here now, he would probably ask a million questions about this strange underground place. It had rows and rows of columns dispersed in every direction. Quite frankly, Jade would probably get lost in this never-ending labyrinth.

"What is this place?" Jade asked, surprising the others with her question.

"Your master never told you about the Infinite City? You must have been quite low in rank," mocked Aldarn.

Jade scowled again, as if wanting to shout at this fool, but instead remained silent. They were so hardheaded in their conviction that she was an enemy that they would not listen to a word she said. And Uncle called _her_ stubborn.

"Keep moving," Aldarn said as he again pulled the chain.

"Okay, okay, I'm moving. Sheesh, do you think it's easy to move with cuffs on your feet?" Jade asked in annoyance.

A few minutes passed and eventually they reached a waterfall. That sight actually amazed Jade. How can a waterfall be underground? She had to admit, wherever she was, this place sure was strange.

As they stopped, Aldarn turns to the guards.

"You can go. I and the other wardens will handle her now," he said.

The guards saluted and headed in the opposite direction, leaving their captain with the chained Jade who simply looked at the waterfall with a thoughtful expression.

"So, the prison is after the waterfall?" she asked.

"Yes, and if the Mage considers you a danger to us, it will be your home for the rest of your life," said Aldarn.

Jade gulped as he pulled the chain again, forcing her to keep walking. They passed through the waterfall, and when they emerged on the other side, Jade's jaw fell in amazement.

Cells. So many of them placed in a circular fashion. She couldn't even see how high this complex was, or how deep.

And in many cells she could see creatures. Strange creatures with monstrous faces. She had to admit, these creatures were even uglier than the Demon Sorcerers. And they were supposed to be her fellow captives?

Jade panicked. She didn't want to be here. To be locked in this place. She was innocent; they couldn't do this to her. She had a family and friends to return to. She couldn't do it if she was imprisoned here.

Aldarn noticed that the blue girl was struggling, trying to not advance. He had to resort to using both arms to pull the chain and even that way he has having difficulty making her move. Was someone so small really this strong?

"Keep moving. I said keep moving. Move I say," Aldarn said, getting angrier and angrier.

"No. You can't do this. I'm innocent," Jade said as she pushed against Aldarn's hold.

"I will be the judge of that."

The new voice stopped both of them. Jade looked and saw, coming to meet them, was a strange bald old woman… or creature, she thought. She clearly was not human.

And accompanying her was a blue giant of a creature. In some ways he resembled the one who dragged her with the chain, but he has bigger and bulkier, perhaps as much as Tohru. He also looked the least human of them all.

"Is this the new prisoner? She looks too small to be of any significant threat," said the blue giant as he and the old bald woman reached them.

"Trust me, she is quite a handful, Vathek. The sooner we lock her up, the better," Aldarn responded.

"So, what do you think about her, Mage?" Vathek asked the old woman.

The "Mage" simply stared at her. Jade started to feel extremely uncomfortable with the way this woman was looking at her. Her eyes were too cold and calculating for her taste; it was like she was being measured up by a medic, or worse, analyzed like a lab rat.

As for the "Mage", she pondered if she should tell them the truth or not. Or at least what truth she seemed to have deciphered. So far, she knew that this blue girl was not a Meridianite. In fact, if not for her skin color, she would have said she was a human girl, at least according to her features. In fact, she looked to be of Asian ancestry, not that different from Yan Lin. And her clothes where similar to something she would see in Japanese warriors like ninjas.

One thing she was certain of, this girl was not one of Phobos' minions. Her eyes were much too innocent, too filled with childish energy to belong to some form of monstrosity created by the evil prince. Even his youngest minion, Miranda – who probably wasn't that much older than this girl – had eyes that expressed a hardened heart. This girl clearly didn't fit in that image.

As for her power over shadows, that she knew very little off. She remembered reading some scrolls belonging to the real, and late, Mage, but even they were scarce in information. Mostly legends that told of shadows or "sources of darkness" that people tried to control, but instead they found themselves consumed by it. Still, many wars were fought in the hope of gaining control of such power; some even said that it could equal the Heart of Kandrakar. But as far as the stories went, that type of magic had disappeared at the end of the reign of the first Oracle.

The "Mage" knew that her ability was most likely the key to identify her, but it would take a long time to do it. Perhaps it was impossible for her on her own. As much as she hated to admit it, in this case she really could use the insight of an Oracle.

Jade continued to stare at the strange woman but eventually found it boring to continuously look at her strange eyes, so she moved her vision to the ground. And she saw something that surprised her.

The "Mage's" shadow. For some reason, it wasn't similar to her form. In fact, her shadow resembled an old woman with long hair and a strange staff on her left hand.

What was going on? Why did her shadow look different from her?

"What do you think of her, Mage? Is she one of Phobos' minions or not?" asked Vathek.

Jade looks at the "Mage" and saw a strange glint in her eyes. A malevolent glint that reminded her for a minute of Shendu when he almost fed Jackie to one of his dragon minions at his palace. He had the same look of a predator that had cornered his prey.

"Yes she is. In fact, she is a shapeshifter," said the "Mage".

"WHAT?!" shouted Jade in shock.

"Like Cedric and Miranda?" Vathek asked with a venomous tone in his voice.

"Indeed, but she is young and inexperienced. That is why she is not capable of completely morphing into a human," said the "Mage".

"So, what does she look like?" asked Aldarn.

"A monstrous being covered with tentacles and tendrils. Very nasty looking beasts," said the "Mage".

"That would explain the tentacles that the others saw," said Aldarn.

"SHE´S LYING! DON´T LISTEN TO HER! I'VE ALWAYS LOOKED LIKE THIS! WELL,MAYBE NOT EXACTLY LIKE _THIS_, BUT I AM NOT A MONSTER! I´M A HUMAN!" Jade shouted in desperation.

"QUIEEEEEEEET!"

Vathek's shout, or perhaps the better definition would be shriek, silenced Jade. He took the chain from Aldarn's hands and then looked at the small blue girl with an accusing and hostile look.

"You can stop with your lies, you little beast. The Mage has identified you for what you truly are. And now to put you in your cage," Vathek said with a resentful tone.

Jade's legs gave out as she fell to the floor, shocked and frightened. It was over. They would never let her go now. She would stay in this dreadful place for the rest of her days.

"I would recommend that you still let Phobos and the others look at her before you lock her up. Who knows, they may slip information that could be beneficial for us. Meanwhile, I must leave, I have other affairs to take care of," said the "Mage" as she started to move in the direction of the waterfall.

"Yes, of course, great Mage. As for you, come, it is time for a _friendly _reunion," Vathek said as he pulled the chain, dragging Jade to her feet and in the direction of the cells. Her face was still set in a shocked expression, as if she had difficulty in processing what was happening.

* * *

The "Mage" passed through the waterfall, exiting the dungeons. As she stopped, lines of light moved around her body, returning her to her true form.

"Nerissa, Nerissa. It seems today is our lucky day. Along with the spider, we found a very rare and precious stone," the old woman said to herself.

* * *

Jade kept getting closer and closer to the platform that she presumed was the center of this dungeon. As she moved, she continued to reflect on what had happened. Her mind filled with depressive thoughts about never seeing Jackie and her family again. To think - her parents often said that her rebellious behavior would put her behind bars one day if she didn't wise up. But she never expected that they would be this accurate.

It was over; she lost. If this was part of Drago's revenge, then he had won against her, as much as she hated to admit it.

As she advanced Jade barely noticed the growls coming from the creatures inside the cells. She may not understand what they were saying to each other, but she would bet that they were talking about her. Like everyone else in this strange place, they most likely found her to be a strange being.

Jade and her two captors reached the platform, where two others were standing. One that looked like the soldier-like beings, and the other was a human, despite having a strange mark on his left check.

Jade didn't spare them another glance and simply looked at the cells in front of her. And she was about to be put in one of them.

"PHOBOS! SHOW YOURSELF! WE HAVE A LOT TO TALK ABOUT!" Vathek shouted.

Jade cringed at the sound of his loud voice. Seriously, did this guy really need to shout this loud?

In one of the cells a man appeared from the shadows. A blonde young man with two long braids in his hair that nearly touched his feet. Jade was never a huge fan of admiring boys, too girly and stupid in her opinion, but even she could tell that he looked handsome; at least he would to many of the girls in her school. And his clothes clearly reminded her of medieval nobility, pretty much like that blond queen. As a matter of fact, they did look quite similar. Were they related or something?

"What do you want, Vathek? Can't you see that I was in the middle of my beauty sleep?" said the blonde man called Phobos in a tired and bored tone.

From cells close to Phobos two other creatures emerged. From the cell to the right of Phobos emerged what seemed like a small and ugly snake like creature with small arms. And in the cell above Phobos, Jade saw a spider-like creature with human arms and legs instead of eight legs.

"Well, pardon me, Your Highness, but I simply find it fit that I inform you that we've captured one of your elusive shapeshifters," said Vathek in a mocking tone.

That caught Phobos' attention. His surprised eyes looked at the four wardens and their prisoner, a young blue girl.

"What is this? Who is she?" Phobos asked with a demanding tone.

"Enough games, Phobos. The Queen captured this creature of yours during the procession. The Mage identified it as one of your beasts, so all I want to know is what was her mission? Kill the Queen? Or perhaps Caleb and the Guardians?" Vathek asked as he and the others glared at the fallen tyrant.

Phobos was for once perplexed by their allegations. Jade could see in the eyes of the prince that he knew nothing of what was going on. Maybe she still had a chance. Maybe they could still see that she didn't work for this man. Maybe…

Phobos reared his head back as he laughed, quite soundly in fact. He laughed and laughed as the wardens looked at him in shock but also in anger.

"This is too rich. The mighty Rebels that feared not one of my monsters and minions are now afraid of a small, helpless little girl? What a sight to my eyes," Phobos said as he smiled mockingly at his captors, making them more angry at him.

"_So much for his help," _Jade thought to herself.

"I've had enough of your games. Tell me what I want to hear or else…"

"Help me."

The new voice interrupted Vathek as he and all the others looked at the cell above Phobos and found a raven-haired girl kneeled on the floor.

"_Wait a minute, wasn't there a spider there?" _Jade thought.

"Let me out, I want my mommy," said the girl in a helpless voice.

"You fool no one, monster. I didn't fall for this one here, so you might as well give up," said Vathek to the girl.

"Oh please, Miranda, everyone knows that you are a shapeshifter. You are only embarrassing yourself," Phobos said in a condescending tone.

"Embarrassing yourself is something that you know all about, hey Ph… AUUUGGGGHHH!"

Drake couldn't end his sentence as a stream of lightning coursed through his body, making him fall unconscious. All the others turned in the waterfall's direction, including Jade. The remaining wardens prepared their weapons to battle this new intruder.

"MUAH HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

From the waterfall emerged an old woman… a _very_ old woman in Jade's opinion. Compared to her, Daolon Wong would look young. She also had a strange staff in her left hand, which was covered by a metal gauntlet. As she floated calmly in the direction of the platform, the wardens attacked. First was Vathek, swinging his flail and launching it at the old woman along with Tynar, who held his sword high above his head.

"Quintessence," the old woman said as she raised her right arm.

Sparks of electricity formed around the old woman's arm, to the point that her skeleton could be visible inside the arm. From the palm of her hand emerged a white pulse of energy that flashed brightly.

Vathek's flail left his hands, as if animated in some way. It rose above him and them launched at him, the chain wrapping around his torso to the point that he fell, immobilized.

Tynar wasn't faring better either. His sword also seemed to be alive, and he struggled in keeping it in his hands and not let it fly and stab him or the others.

Aldarn was about to prepare his crossbow when his arrows left their quiver. Surprised by this, he simply looked at them hovering until they launched at him. He closed his eyes, fearing to be hit, but instead they hit his clothes, taking him to the ground and pinning him.

Jade was surprised. These four seemed fearsome warriors, especially the big blue brute, but this old woman stopped them in a single attack. Perhaps she was a sorceress? If so, what magic did she use? Because it didn't seem to be chi magic. Perhaps a form of telekinesis like with Tarakudo? Or perhaps magic similar to Tchang Zu the Thunder Demon? She could have sworn seeing lighting striking one of the wardens.

"Don't know… ugh… who you are, sorceress, but you will never free Phobos," Vathek said in defiance.

"Uh, uh, uh. You seem in no position to give orders, Vathek," Phobos said, smirking arrogantly at the chained warden.

The old woman launched another stream of lightning from her hand, but instead of striking Phobos' cell it struck the cell of the girl called Miranda. She looked in confusion at her surroundings as the bars of her cell dispersed.

"Wait, where are you going? Miranda, I demand that you release me at once!" Phobos demanded in anger.

"Oh master, I would try, but I might _embarrass_ myself," Miranda said with a devious look on her face as she slowly changed into the form of a spider like creature and leapt to the platform, joining the sorceress at her side.

"_So she was the spider creature. Talk about nasty," _thought Jade.

"NOT ON MY WATCH!" shouted a furious Vathek as he struggled against his chains, trying to free himself.

He eventually broke the chains and rose to his feet, running to stop the sorceress and Miranda. But the spider shapeshifter turned on him and sprouted web from her mouth, enveloping Vathek in a cocoon that completely immobilized him.

"Serves you right for what you did to me," Jade said to herself.

Jade looks at the departing sorceress and spider and then suddenly shouted, "WAIT, DON´T LEAVE ME!"

The two stopped, and the old woman looked at the young girl with a smirk on her face.

"And why shouldn't I? I only came here to free this one. Why should I release you?" asked the old woman.

"Because… it's the right thing to do?" Jade said uncertainly.

The old woman laughed at Jade's statement. She then raised her right arm again as it glowed with the same sparkling energy.

"_Oh no, I'm done for,"_ thought Jade as she closed her eyes, ready for the pain.

Jade felt the impact of the stream of lightning, but no pain came after that. Confused, she opened her eyes and noticed that the chains around her torso had released her on their own, and the same had happened with the cuffs on her feet.

She was free once again.

"Come with us if you want to get out of here. Only I know the way out of the Infinite City," said the sorceress as she resumed her walking.

Miranda looked in surprise at the sorceress, wondering why she released that blue girl. As far as she could tell, she wasn't one of Phobos' minions, contrary to the suppositions of the Rebels. But then again, why did this woman release her instead of Phobos? Something was going on, she could smell it.

Jade ran from her detained captors, despite the heated protests from Vathek. She was still uncertain of it was a good idea to join these two in their escape. The spider seemed to be a criminal of sorts in this place, and the sorceress… well, for some reason, Jade didn't trust her. She may have released her, but there was something in her eyes that told Jade that she couldn't be trusted. That she would stab her in the back at the first opportunity.

On the other hand, she didn't have much of a choice. Staying in this dungeon meant a lifelong imprisonment since they had pretty much judged her already. Also, she could tell that wherever she was, it was not Earth. She needed more information about her current location, and for now her most likeable source were these two, even if she didn't trust them.

"Jackie wouldn't like it, but I don't have any other options. He would understand, I hope," Jade said to herself.

As Jade went to the entrance, the last thing she heard was Vathek yelling in anger.

* * *

As she passed the waterfall, she noticed that the old woman had stopped, looking in several directions. Then she pointed to the left with her staff.

"This way," said the old woman.

As the three fugitives walked in silence for a few minutes, Miranda then turned to the old woman.

"While I am grateful for my freedom, I want to know who are you, and what do you want with me? And with her too, by the way?" Miranda said as she pointed at Jade.

"_Good question,"_ thought Jade.

"I can't tell you what I want with you two yet, as I still have to recruit the others. Then I will tell you what I want with you two," said the old woman.

"And if I decide that I don't want to do what you asked?" Miranda asked in defiance.

"Then I simply teleport and leave you two here to fend for yourselves. If you are lucky the Rebels may find you, otherwise you will wander through these halls, forever," said the old woman in a sinister tone.

Jade gulped at the thought.

"But if it makes you feel any better, I will tell you two my name. My name is Nerissa. And I already know about you, Miranda," said the newly identified Nerissa.

"Which leads us to you. What is your name, little girl?" Nerissa asked Jade.

Jade was about to say her name when she realized that she couldn't. Or more precisely, she couldn't take such a huge risk with two strangers. If things got ugly, they may turn whatever information she gave against her.

"Well? What is your name?" Nerissa asked impatiently.

Jade tried to think of a name, something that could define her at the moment.

The word she sought came to her practically in an instant.

"Kage. My name is Kage, and I am not a little girl."

**Continues in part 3**


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N.: **Here comes the final part of the first episode rewrite. Not much to say except sorry for the delay. Also, I would like to remind that some parts of the original episode will not suffer any rewrite since this fic is mostly around Jade, so the Earth parts with WITCH and Frost's plan will remain untouched, along with others like Nerissa reuniting the other Knights of Vengeance or the party at the palace. For all purposes, those happened exactly the same way as the original episode, so there is no need in writing them again.

* * *

**A is Animosity and Anonymous**

**Part 3**

Jade and her two companions kept walking through the endless rows of columns, with Nerissa always at the lead. A few minutes back, she had given a false name in order to protect her identity from these two. But still, she didn't feel that comfortable in assuming the name Kage, or "Shadow" in Japanese. In her mind it made her close to the Shadowkhan, too close for her taste.

"_I am and shall remain the Queen of the Shadowkhan, while you are nothing but my kage now."_

The Queen's last words in that blasted dream still echoed in her mind. She was starting to regret assuming that name. She was Jade Chan, niece of Jackie Chan the famous martial artist expert (and archaeologist). She was her own independent person, not the shadow of some stuck up Queen born from a tattoo and her own inner darkness. In fact, it was the Queen that was _her_ shadow, not the other way around.

Yet Jade couldn't help but fear her slow conversion to a Shadowkhan. The clothes, the skin color, her red eyes… She even seemed to possess some of the Shadowkhan's more infamous powers. Still, it was not like last time. It was still relatively weak when compared to a Queen that ruled the endless numbers of an entire tribe. Maybe the transformation was still ongoing? Then again, it didn't take her more than a day to become the Queen before, and she was sure that more than 24 hours had passed since her banishment. Perhaps it was not exactly the same thing, considering Drago cast the spell this time? Perhaps.

As Jade walked behind the other two, she failed to notice a large portion of the ceiling starting to tremble. It was already in bad shape, so out of nowhere it crumbled right above Jade, raining down tons and tons of solid rock.

Jade heard the noise above her and looked up just in time to see dozens of rocks falling toward her.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Nerissa and Miranda turned just in time to see the rocks bury the blue girl. The tremble of the crash made them struggle to maintain their balance. A cloud of dust covered the area for a few moments, making it impossible for them to see Kage's last spot. Eventually the cloud settled, and they could see the place of the blue girl's demise.

"Oh well. So much for her," Miranda said, neither caring for the blue girl's safety nor feeling any satisfaction in her demise. After all, she was a stranger and nothing more.

"Blast," Nerissa cursed. After all that hard work in framing and rescuing her, and fate had to take her new jewel away. And she had so many questions to find the answers to.

Without either of them noticing, what appeared to be a shadow seemed to pass through one end of the rock pile, moving away from them and in the direction of the sorceress and shapeshifter.

"So, shall we move the rocks?" Miranda asked uncertainly.

"With that many rocks that fell on her she couldn't have possibly survived. Let's just leave this place," Nerissa said in a sour tone. Truth be told, Kage's demise (if that was her real name, which Nerissa doubted) didn't make a dent in her overall plans, but still, it felt like she had found something valuable out of luck and lost it out of luck too. She hated when luck interfered in her calculated plans.

As both she and the spider turned, she felt something grabbing her rob. Turning in surprise, she saw a small blue hand had emerged from a shadow. Both Nerissa and Miranda looked at it, completely stunned.

"You weren't going to leave without me, were you?" asked a very familiar voice.

The hand started to rise from the shadow, exposing its arm, Kage's head with a wide smile on her face, and the rest of her body. As she rose, the shadow shrank until there was nothing there but Kage's feet. She turned back to watch the rocks, whistling in relief.

"Phew, a second later and I would be as flat as a pancake," she said.

"How… how did you do that?" Miranda asked, still stunned.

"Do what?" Jade asked in confusion.

"She means how you turned yourself into a shadow. I admit that was quite impressive," Nerissa admitted, now more composed and looking intently at Kage.

"Oh, um… it's what I do. I mean it's in my name after all, right?" Jade said, trying to sound like it was nothing special, when in reality she was as surprised as they were. For a minute, she actually thought she was a goner, but instinctively she managed to either turn into or merge with a nearby shadow and cheat death. Either way, she felt the same sensation of being immersed in black water, but this time she could see the surface world when she looked up. And when she looked down, she could see the reddish expanses of the Shadow Realm.

"_I need to be careful next time,"_ Jade thought to herself, shuddering slightly. No way she was going back to that place.

"Wait a minute. If you can do that, why didn't you escape on your own?" Miranda asked, narrowing her eyes in accusation.

Nerissa did the same when she looked at Jade. Jade's eyes bulged as she frantically tried to think of a convincing excuse. She couldn't admit that she didn't even know she could merge with shadows, right? In her rising panic Jade was actually preparing to back away when she stopped. She couldn't show shyness to these two. She couldn't let them intimidate her each time they ask her a question. She was Jade Chan, the intrepid and fearless 12-year old soon to be agent of Section 13. She didn't let fear rule over her when she and her family faced the Dark Hand, Shendu, and all the other evildoers in her world. And these two were not as scary as a demon or an Oni. She could not let herself be intimated by them.

"I was tired, okay? It took a lot of energy to heal my burns after that crazy blonde chick attacked me. If not for that, I would have beat the crap out of those brutes and escaped on my own," Jade said in defiance as her eyes narrowed, as if challenging the other two to put her to question again.

Miranda's eyes returned to a calm demeanor and she turned her back to Jade, apparently satisfied by her explanation. Nerissa still looked at Jade for a few more moments, but eventually she too turned and continued walking.

Jade let out a breath of relief; they bought it. For a minute she thought they would see her lie and attack her. Fortunately, she was still in the clear.

"I swear if this keeps going on I might end up with a heart attack at age 12."

* * *

"This is unheard of – two sages entering the Pillar of Fate? It's an outrage, I tell you," grumbled Tibor as he and Luba followed Himerish through Kandrakar's hallways.

"Could you please stop repeating that over and over? You have been complaining about the same thing ever since we left the healing chamber," retorted Luba in annoyance.

"I must admit it is getting quite repetitive my friend," said Himerish in a calm tone.

"And I will keep repeating myself until you take notice of what you are doing. The Pillar of Fate is only reserved to an Oracle. No sage has the insight to either see or interpret a vision. That is why no sage can enter there," Tibor said in an almost exasperated tone.

"No sage can enter on their own. An active Oracle can give permission to a sage to enter the Pillar. And I am now giving you two that permission," said Himerish.

"The Oracle is right, Tibor. We are not committing any fault," said Luba.

"I know that, but still, it will be the first time that a sage, or two, entered the Pillar, since no Oracle before had the need for assistance in his/her visions and you know that well, Himerish," said Tibor in a serious tone.

"True, but as I learned a long time ago, there is always a first time for everything," Himerish replied, smiling enigmatically to his friend and right hand man.

Eventually the Oracle and the sages found themselves at the front of an imposing double door, almost thirty feet high. It towered above them, and on each door was a symbol of the Heart of Kandrakar.

Himerish simply raised his right hand and the doors opened on their own, as if they had noticed that the ruler of Kandrakar was in front of them. He then turned to his companions.

"Well, are you going to deny your Oracle his request or not?" Himerish asked in an almost joking manner. And without hesitation he passed through the open doors.

"This is a bad idea, Himerish. The council will not like it," mumbled Tibor as he followed Himerish along with Luba.

"Then their complaints, or any penalties, will only be directed at me and me alone. I prefer that than let this suspicion left unchecked," Himerish said as his face turned to a more serious expression.

They all entered a white, bright, and wide circular room. On its walls, thousands of images were depicted in a strange art sense. They all seemed to represent scenes and events, like the pictures of a prehistoric cave or walls of an ancient temple or tomb. And if one looked above, they couldn't even see the ceiling, as the room seemed to be hundreds and hundreds of feet tall. Perhaps thousands, even.

"If I may, Oracle, what are we doing here?" Luba asked, as her curiosity was reaching a boiling point. And she knew that Tibor was also feeling the same.

"First, let me check the section of my visions," Himerish said as he moved towards a particular section of the wall.

This made both Luba and Tibor look at each other as they followed after Himerish.

"But why? You already had the vision. The Pillar serves to record all visions of the Oracles, nothing more. Why do you need to see your last vision?" asked Tibor.

"The Pillar serves another purpose, other than a mere recorder of the visions of an Oracle. A purpose that all Oracles hoped will never be used," said Himerish.

"What purpose?" asked Luba in an almost fearful tone.

But Himerish didn't respond as he looked at a wall, the wall that recorded his visions, all that he had during his long reign as the Oracle. He looked for an instant at one side, then his eyes moved to another, then above, as if he is searching for something.

"It is as I feared," Himerish said as he pointed at one image.

Both Luba and Tiboor looked at the image. It seemed to represent a male humanoid figure with regal clothes and long hair in two braids inside of some form of cage. Surrounding him were figures that resembled fairies, or more precisely the Guardians, and a girl with long blonde hair also in two braids. All six were shooting rays at the caged figure.

Both Tibor and Luba knew what it meant. What it represented.

"Isn't that…" started Luba.

"…The fall of Phobos at the hands of his sister and the new Guardians. You remembered that I had this vision 13 years ago," said Himerish.

He then pointed at the image next to it.

"And do you recognize this one?" he asked.

Both Luba and Tibor turned and looked at another image, one that represented two women, both in Guardian clothes. One, with long black hair, was shooting lightning at the other Guardian, who had short russet-orange hair and seemed to be falling from someplace high. And above them was the image of the Heart of Kandrakar.

"Nerissa's betrayal," whispered Tiboor.

"I would say Cassidy and Nerissa's tragedy, but yes, this depicts the same vision that I had 40 years ago," said Himerish as he sighed sadly.

"But what does this have to do with your recent vision, Oracle?" asked Luba again, feeling impatient.

"These two images show what were my last visions. As you can see, there is no image following these two," said Himerish in a serious tone.

The eyes of both sages widened in complete surprise, and they turned to look in the direction of what should be Himerish's newest vision.

Nothing. It was completely blank.

"But this is impossible. The Pillar should have recorded your latest vision, as it did with all your others and of all the other Oracles' visions," protested Tibor.

"And it did record that vision, my friend. Or more precisely, it was already recorded," replied Himerish, again surprising them.

"For you to understand more, we have to move from this level of the Pillar," said Himerish as he looked up at the elusive ceiling.

"Move? But how can we…"

Luba's sentence was cut short as both she and Tibor felt the ground begin trembling. As it stopped, they felt that the floor was rising, moving up and up inside the Pillar.

"It can move us up?" asked Tibor, completely amazed.

"Or is it the walls that are moving down? Frankly speaking, I was never able to determine which one," Himerish said in an amused tone.

The floor was rising, and rising, moving at what seemed to be an impossible speed. And yet both Luba and Tibor didn't feel any force pushing them down, as it should have in normal circumstances. Whether the Pillar was designed to protect them from gravity or it was the Oracle that was protecting them was anyone's guess.

And finally it stopped. After minutes of ascension, Himerish finally reached the section of the wall he wanted to see. Or more precisely, the image he wanted to see.

"And this is the vision that I had not even an hour ago. But as I can assure you, it was not mine, not originally that is," Himerish said as he pointed at the wall.

Both sages looked in amazement at the depiction of an enormous black background filled with stars, like the night sky. No, not stars. They could see that they were in fact images of Hearts, with a similar design to the Heart of Kandrakar.

But what really caught their attention was an enormous depiction of a face in the center of the image. A face that both Tibor and Luba would associate to a child, a small and harmless child if not for the two red orbs with no pupil present on them, complemented with a pair of long fangs in her wide mouth. The face belonged to a young, blue-skinned girl that much they could tell, with raven colored hair depicted in small strands that they could tell apart from the black background. And it was not the only thing they could tell apart. Coming from around the girl's face were several black tendrils or tentacles that seemed to crawl in the direction of a Heart. Others were already close to one, as if readying to snatch it in its grip.

Below the face they could also see several silhouettes of strange creatures, so close to each other that it was impossible to count each one. Still, they could see that some were humanoid warriors of some kind, while others were beings they had never seen before. And that was saying something.

An army. Or several armies, perhaps. An army of endless and seemingly hostile creatures, at least they assumed that they were hostile based on the sneer present on the girl's face, as if she was readying to launch at the five figures laying at the army's feet, as if defeated, five figures that clearly depicted the Guardians. Clearly not a good sign.

"This… this is what you saw, Oracle?" asked Luba, still in shock.

"Yes, give or take a few details like the girl's skin color. But perhaps I merely saw the beginning of her vision," said Himerish.

"Her?" Tibor asked.

Himerish closed his eyes and said:

"N'ghala. This vision was her last one."

* * *

_RRRRRRRR!_

The sound came from a rock that slid to the side, revealing a dark opening in a small hill, far from the city, even though the castle could still be seen in the distance.

And from that opening emerged Nerissa, Miranda still in her spider form, and Jade, or as the others knew her, Kage.

"As you can see, we are finally out of the Infinite City, and far away from the village. The Rebels cannot catch us for hours at least, so ease up ladies," said Nerissa as she moved to another side of the opening and touched something. Immediately, the rock slid again and returned to its original position.

"Rebels?" asked Jade with an inquisitive expression on her face.

"You really aren't one of Phobos' little creations, are you?" Miranda asked in an amused tone.

"Do I have to repeat what I said to those hardheads? I! Don't! Work! For! This! Phobos! Guy!" said Jade, the last part in a deliberately slow tone.

The spider creature shifted to her young human form. Her blue eyes looked at Jade in amusement while she smirked, as if finding Jade's statement funny.

"I know that, right from when Phobos looked at you. Those fools completely failed to see his surprise, but yeah, it is pretty obvious that you aren't one of us," said Miranda, still smirking at Jade.

"Us?" asked Jade.

"She means Phobos' elite, formed by several warriors or monstrous creatures that the Prince saw fit to directly serve him. The little snake in the cell next to Phobos? That was his right hand man, Cedric," answered Nerissa.

"So, he was like your king, right?" asked Jade as she looked at Miranda.

The shapeshifter's smile turned to a scowl after she heard Jade's statement. Jade wondered what she had said wrong, but eventually Miranda's face returned to a more neutral expression.

"Not exactly, but he was our ruler, until his sister the _rightful _Queen arrived, that is," Miranda replied, distaste clear in her voice.

"Well, that explains the procession. And the fireworks in the distance." said Jade as she looked at the castle. She had to admit it was a pretty sight. It reminded her of Chinese New Year back home, even if the fireworks in Hong Kong would put these ones to shame.

"_So, that blonde chick is their rightful ruler? And she and that Phobos guy, her brother no less, are disputing a throne? Talk about déjà vu," _Jade thought to herself as she thought back to Shendu and Drago. Different dimension, same problem, or similar at least.

Still, from what she understood, she was not wrong in her earlier suppositions. This spider… whatever creature she was, she had served that Phobos guy, a ruler that if she was reading the lines well was not exactly _pleasant _or_ fair_. Otherwise, why would there be Rebels to begin with if not to bring him down? And that seemed to have happened not long ago. Worse, she was caught right at its end, when the wounds of the fight were still fresh and the tempers could still flare. Talk about timing.

"_I could simply leave this place and take my chances in the Shadow Realm, but who knows how long until I find another portal or gateway? I could still end up in another dimension, one worse than this. Worse even, I could be stuck in the Shadow Realm, this time forever,"_ Jade thought as she pondered her options.

"Give me a minute of your attention, if you please, girls," said Nerissa, gaining the attention of both her and Miranda.

"I want you to follow this path. A few dozen miles or so you will find my refuge, a cave that will allow you to rest for a while," Nerissa said as she pointed with her staff at a passage leading to a chain of mountains.

"You are not coming with us?" Jade asked in a skeptical tone.

"I have other affairs to take care of, and it will take a long time to sort them out. So, off you go, and don't get any ideas. In case one or neither of you is in the cave when I return, I will send both of you back to the dungeons in the Infinite City. And don't think I can't," Nerissa said, ending in a threatening tone.

She smirked at herself. That way if one thought of escaping, the other would not let them. Both would watch out for the other in order to preserve their own freedom.

Jade frowned at this. She could already see the old woman's intentions, but still decided to not voice any complaints. She still needed them for more Intel anyway.

Miranda, on the other hand, was not about let herself be threatened by a complete stranger, no matter how powerful she seemed.

"Listen here, I've put up with you long enough. Now that I am free from Phobos, I have no desire to follow you or anyone else for that matter. I don't know anything of your plans nor do I care, I will simply walk away and nothing that you say or do will change my mind, you hear…"

_BLAST!_

Miranda was cut off as the old sorceress shot a stream of lightning at her. It forced her to fall to the ground, as the energy coursed through her body.

Jade was shocked by the sudden turn of events. She stiffened her body, ready to either defend herself or hightail from there, in case Nerissa decided to blast her too.

Nerissa stopped the lightning and approached the fallen shapeshifter, as she twitched in pain. Bowing slightly, she looked straight in Miranda's surprised eyes.

"You will obey me, that's not a question. Whether you do it willingly or I need to force you only depends on your end. Will you follow my every order by your own will or do I need to _take_ that will from you?" Nerissa asked in an angry tone, her threat clear for the shapeshifter to hear.

Miranda remained shocked and frightened at the old woman's threat. What did she mean by that? That she could enslave her in some way? Memories of Cedric using the Horn of Hypnos and what it did to others came to her mind. Could this sorceress do something similar?

Eventually she bowed her head in defeat, saying, "Okay… I will follow your orders to the letter."

"_For the moment,"_ she added in her thoughts.

Nerissa's grin returned to her face, pleased that she finally had the "cooperation" of the shapeshifter. She then turned to Jade.

"Have you any complaints about my orders, Kage?" she asked in an almost sweet tone.

But Jade knew better than fall to that sweet tone.

"No. No complaints whatsoever. I am yours to command, Nerissa-sama," said Jade in a submissive tone.

"_Great, another language slip," _thought Jade in a sour tone.

Nerissa was pleased by the apparent submission of Kage. Now _that_ was what she wanted, the utmost respect that all should have for their future ruler and savior. Only unshakeable obedience would save the Universe from conflict and evil. Obedience towards her, Nerissa.

"Good, that is what I expect from you two. Now go to my cave and wait for me there, for I will not be coming alone," she ordered.

A flash of green followed and the sorceress was gone, leaving behind the recovering shapeshifter and Jade. Eventually Miranda stood up, even if with some effort on her part. She looked at Jade, who was also looking at her with… worry?

"Are you okay?" asked Jade, actually concerned for the well being of her companion. That seemed to surprise the shapeshifter, until her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I don't need your pity. Let us just depart. The sooner we reach the cave, the better," Miranda said in a sour tone as she transformed back to her spider self, turning away from Jade and starting to walk away.

Jade frowned at the spider creature's insensitiveness. So much for gratitude.

"You're welcome," Jade said in a dried, sarcastic tone.

* * *

A flash of green illuminated a lone hall inside the palace, near the kitchen. Nerissa looked at her surroundings, reminiscing of the years she pretended to serve both Phobos and Wiera before him in this very kitchen.

"And now I need to serve Queen Elyon with the same _fervor_, for the moment anyway," Nerissa said to herself.

The lines of light surrounded her form again, and now she looked like a pudgy, middle-aged woman dressed as a maid. Now she was Trill, one of the workers of the castle, one that helped the Rebellion during Phobos' reign.

Lifting her hand, she held up the jewel she had prepared earlier, the jewel that she was ready to give to the new Queen. The jewel that would be the true start of her plans. Now, how to deliver it to her?

"There you are."

"Trill" jumped in surprise at the sudden voice, one that she was very familiar with.

"Caleb, what are you doing here?" asked "Trill" as she turned to Caleb.

"Looking for you, actually. The Queen is about to make her speech and I want you there. It's time to all that aided the Rebellion to be rewarded," said Caleb with clear joy in his voice.

"But Caleb, I…"

She was cut off as the young man almost dragged her (with gentle care) in the direction of the balcony where Elyon was speaking to an enormous crowd.

"Come on, don't be like that. You should celebrate with the others at the very least Trill, you earned it," said Caleb.

"Trill's" eyes flashed in satisfaction at what he was doing. Fate truly seemed to be favoring her recently.

* * *

"N'ghala's vision? But how is it possible? How could you have the last vision of the very first Oracle?" asked Tibor in complete surprise.

Himerish sighed and looked back at the image.

"Simple, my friend. The other purpose of the Pillar was to make the active Oracle have the unfulfilled vision of a previous Oracle."

"Unfulfilled?" wondered Luba.

"N'ghala's last vision never came to be fulfilled during or after her reign. That was the main reason for the creation of the Pillar. I won't pretend to you that I fully know how it works, since the second purpose was never used until now," Himerish explained.

"This secret… and no one else knows about this?" asked Tibor.

"Aside from all the previous Oracles and myself, only you two as of now. It is not prohibited that others should know of the Pillar's second function or of N'ghala's unfulfilled vision, but it was decided that others beside Oracles could not bear the pressure of knowing about this vision, that is why it was mostly kept a secret. Truth be said, most of the previous Oracles eventually forgot about N'ghala's last vision or the Pillar's second purpose," Himerish said.

"Are there any other records or scrolls about this vision? Surely N'ghala should have left some other information besides the Pillar," Tibor asked.

"And there were, but those records were destroyed by the only sage that ever laid his eyes on them: Althair," said Himerish in a grave tone.

"The Mad Sage? The one that nearly ended Kandrakar's influence on the Known Worlds?" Luba asked, almost in fear.

"The very same. And it seems that what caused his madness was what he read in N'ghala's scrolls. He burned them on the very same day, along with half of Kandrakar's library and… well, you know the rest of his story after that," said Himerish.

How could they not know? It was perhaps the greatest treason ever committed against Kandrakar and its purpose of preserving the order and peace of the universe. It even made Nerissa´s betrayal look like child's play. But the worse was the genocide that Althair and his fanatical followers committed on several worlds. The Great Purge, as it was known even now. It affected mostly children for some reason. And Althair's justification for such a massacre? To save Kandrakar and the Universe from what he called the _Incoming Darkness_.

Could Althair's actions really be connected to N'ghala's vision in some way?

"Regardless, every time a new Oracle is appointed, the predecessor takes his/her successor and shows this image to them. I remember to have seen it for the first time centuries ago, but considering that numerous Oracles have passed and there was no sign of events that would lead to the vision or the creature that seems to be the cause of it, I practically forgot about all of this, at least until a few hours ago," said Himerish.

"But why? Why now?" asked Luba.

Himerish thinks for a moment. Then he said, "I may be wrong, but I think that why it is starting to happen now is the same reason why Althair or any other never seemed to find the blue girl. I think that she is an outsider."

"So you are suggesting that she will come from beyond the Known Worlds?" asked Tibor.

Himerish lowered his head.

"More than that. I think that she is a creature that came from outside our universe. From _another_ universe, perhaps," Himerish said.

Luba swallowed hard. From beyond their universe? What manner of creature could pass the barriers that separate the different universes? It was one thing to pass from one dimensional realm or world to another, either using portals or "folding the dimensional space". But what separated one universe from another were barriers beyond even time and space, far stronger than a Veil, actually. It would require an enormous amount of magical energy to pass through or even break them. At least, in _their_ universe that was the case. Who knew if other creatures from other universes had their own ways to transverse the endless universes that compose reality?

But Tibor realized another thing from what the Oracle said.

"'Came?" he asked in an almost frightened tone.

Himerish looked at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Yes, she has already arrived. My headache was a sign of it along with the vision."

* * *

In a narrow path surrounded by rocks big and small, two figures kept walking. One was Miranda in her spider form, grumbling about her luck in general. The other was a curious Jade, who was looking at the scenery as they walked.

"_I gotta admit, this place sure has a better view than the Netherworld or the Shadow Realm. And it seems to be more expansive," _she thought as she kept moving her head, looking at a valley a few miles on her left side, a mountain range on her right side. It actually was starting to remind her of Earth.

"_Earth… I wonder how Jackie and the others are doing without me?" _Jade thought, worried about them. Without a way to measure time, it could have been more than day since her banishment. Perhaps two days, or a week, or even a whole month. She didn't have a way to know how much time had passed.

She missed them. A lot. She even missed Drew and his constant retorts and skeptic critics about her _made up_ adventures.

"_Man, he would probably say that I've finally cracked if I told him and the others about this place and its inhabitants," _Jade thought.

Jade pressed a hand on her chest, feeling the fabric of her new uniform. A shinobi shõzoku, practically identical to the ones used by the Ninja tribe. The only thing that was different besides the size was also the absence of a hood and mask to cover her face. She even reached to the back of her neck trying to find some semblance of fabric that could serve as a hood or mask and found nothing.

"_And now you even miss our old orange hoodie. Talk about pathetic, Jade."_

Jade eyes widened in shock. She heard it, the Queen's voice, in her mind. How?

"_You can never get away from me. I am your destiny," _the Queen's voice spread in her mind as if trying to dominate her thoughts.

"_No, you are nothing more than a product of my imagination. You are not real, do you hear me? You were never real!" _Jade shouted in her mind, shaking her head, as if it would expel the Queen from her mind.

Maniacal laughter followed.

"_We will see about that Jade, or should I call you Kage?"_

Jade bared her teeth, trying to ignore that laughter. She was Jade Chan, not the Queen of the Shadowkhan. She was Jade, not the Queen, she was Jade, not the Queen, she was Jade, not the Queen, she was…

"There's the cave. Finally."

Jade's thoughts dispersed as she noticed that they had finally found that blasted cave. She sighed in relief, thanking the heavens for this reprieve.

"Great. I can finally shut my eyes for a bit. Boy, am I tired," she said.

"I wouldn't recommend that."

Jade turned to Miranda, who had just resumed her human form. Jade winced slightly, remembering for a moment how the Demon Sorcerers did the same thing when they wanted to shift forms. Granted, it was not really the same, and this girl was a far cry from the intimidating demons. Even Drago was a bigger creep than her.

"I would keep an eye open if I were you. You never know what may _crawl_ to catch you," Miranda said as she smiled maliciously at Jade.

Jade narrowed her eyes as she watched her enter the cave. Okay, maybe she _was_ as much of a creep as Drago.

"Jerk," Jade said as she also entered the dark cave.

"_I agree."_

_"_Oh come on."

* * *

"So, are we all in agreement?"

The other two sages nodded to the Oracle as he closed the doors of the Pillar.

"We will do as you instructed, Oracle. We will not speak of this until you say so," said Tibor as he and the others move down the hall.

"And we will also conduct searches in the Known Worlds in order to find her," said Luba with assurance.

"Careful now, Luba. We don't want to raise unnecessary attention at this point. Do it as discretely as possible," said the Oracle.

"Of course, Oracle," Luba said, bowing in respect.

"And what we will do once we find her, Oracle?" Tibor asked, looking at his friend.

Himerish paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, and then he said, "If we indeed find her, then I will reveal everything to the Council and then we will all decide accordingly. Such decisions shouldn't be made by one person alone."

"Of course, Oracle," Tibor said, still thinking of what would happen if things got to that point.

"There is also the matter of the Veil around Meridian, Oracle. If this vision reveals such a threat to Kandrakar, then we need to disperse the Veil and allow the Guardians to reach their full power," said Luba.

"Agreed, but I don't think that will be a problem. The Council seems to be in favor in lifting the Veil anyway. In a few days we will most likely do that, along with meeting the new Guardians," said Himerish.

"I hope that they can prevail against such adversity," said Tibor in a worried tone.

"They are our best hope. They are young and full of promise. If they can't, then I am not sure who could at this point," said Himerish.

"Of all possible threats that could spell doom to Kandrakar, I would have never imagine that a young girl would be the most dangerous to us. Even now, I still find it hard to believe," said Luba, shaking her head.

"Greatness can have surprisingly humble beginnings, Luba. When I was young I never thought that I would one day become a sage of Kandrakar, let alone its Oracle. And practically all around me thought the same too," said Himerish, reminiscing of his humble beginnings as the son of a farmer in Basilíade.

Eventually Himerish reached his chamber in order to meditate on the matter properly. As he entered his chamber, both Luba and Tibor nodded at each other and left in different directions. Himerish moved to the chamber's center and sat on it, starting to concentrate as one last thought crossed his mind, "_Unfortunately greatness is neutral in itself. It can serve the greater good or bring a great evil instead. It all depends of the person in question."_

* * *

_A few hours later, at the palace entrance:_

It was a sour Caleb that returned empty handed after the failed hunt of Tracker and his hound. The platoon that accompanied him was wisely keeping their distance from him, in case he snapped at them. Granted, he hadn't done anything like that yet, but their previous experience with Cedric and his outbursts of anger left most of the guards with a slight fear of angry commanders.

Truthfully speaking, Caleb was actually more frustrated about two things: first, how did Tracker escape them? Thanks to the tip given by Blunk about Tracker hiding in the forest near the Passling Village, they were able to locate him in a manner of hours. Still, he fled from them, but fortunately Caleb knew that forest very well, more than Tracker it seemed. He knew that they were mere minutes behind him, but for some reason his tracks suddenly stopped at a clearing. Try as they might, he and the guards couldn't pick Tracker's trail back up, leaving the question of how he had evaded them. He couldn't have disguised his trail from them considering how close they were to him. And he couldn't have flied out of the forest. He actually wondered if Tracker had used a portal to escape to Earth, but then the portal would have been in the clearing. So how? How did he do it?

The second was his last conversation with Cornelia.

_Flashback:_

"_What do you mean you aren't coming back to Heatherfield? Wake up Rebel leader, the good guys won, you are out of a job," Cornelia said, looking at him in sadness and disappointment._

_Caleb had his eyes closed, trying to think of the best way of making Cornelia seeing reason. Just because they won, he knew that this conflict was not at its end yet, at least not until all of Phobos' presence was erased. Only then could Meridian heal._

"_Cornelia, it's my duty to help Queen Elyon. Many of Phobos' minions are still at large in Meridian. You saw how one of them almost killed us at the procession," Caleb said._

"_We don't know if she works for Phobos," Cornelia retorted, frowning slightly._

"_Even so, she can still be a threat to our world. And we still have to deal with apprehending Frost, Tracker, and one of the Gargoyles that's still alive. I'm sorry, but I can't go back to Heatherfield," Caleb said, trying to sound as certain of his decision as possible._

"_You… are choosing Meridian over me?" Cornelia asked, looking at the lake, tears falling from her eyes._

"_Try to understand…" Caleb started._

_Cornelia stopped crying and a decisive expression crossed her face._

"_Oh, I understand, I just don't care," Cornelia said as she turned and embraced a surprised Blunk, who was just passing behind them._

"_It's Blunk I'm really gonna miss," said Cornelia, to the increasing surprise of the Passling. He smiled and returned the hug. Of course, Cornelia would appreciate the gesture if not for his foul smell._

"_Blondie no worry. Blunk will visit Earth soon," Blunk said._

"_Great," mumbled Cornelia._

_Caleb simply closed his eyes. This decision actually felt harder than any other he ever made in the Rebellion._

_End Flashback_

"I wonder how she and the others are doing. Probably going to the mall and buying those ridiculous Earth clothes," Caleb said to himself as he smiled at that thought.

As he enters the courtyard, he noticed the other three platoons that had left at the same time as him, both composed of several guards and one Rebel commander that Caleb trusted. One platoon was to apprehend Frost, and another, one of the Gargoyle creatures that served Phobos, the last of his kind if he was not mistaken thanks to Phobos, who ordered the extermination of these monsters in order for Elyon to not discover that they worked for him. In Caleb's opinion, good riddance actually, it made their job easier in the end. The third platoon was ordered to go to Torus Filney and watch over the frozen sand creature that nearly ended his life once.

Now that he thought about it, why was that platoon here with the others? And why did their commanders all have somber looks on their faces?

"_Something tells me that my mood will be fouler after their reports," _Caleb thought as he approached the platoons.

"All right, first tell me why you aren't guarding Sandpit in Torus Filney," Caleb said to one of the commanders.

"Well… the thing is… it's gone," replied the commander, hesitation plain to see in his voice.

"Gone? What do you mean by that?" Caleb asked, raising his voice.

"When we reached Torus Filney, we only found an empty hole. No glass covering it, or any trace of sand either. None of the locals took notice of it, but it seems that Sandpit found a way to escape on his own, perhaps only a few hours ago," said the commander.

On his own? Doubtful. Only high temperatures could melt that glass, not the normal heat of the sun. Someone had freed him, but the commander was right, it could have happened a few days or only a few hours ago. Now the question was who, and with what purpose?

"_I should have put some men watching him after he was frozen," _thought Caleb in annoyance as he turned to the other two commanders.

"What about you two? Did you apprehend your targets?" asked Caleb.

"No. When we arrived at Cavigor, Gargoyle was gone too. The only thing that we found were the remains of melted iron bars," responded a commander.

"We had even less luck with Frost. We couldn't find any trace of his recent presence, nor anyone who seemed to see him recently. He seems to have vanished from the face of Meridian," said the other commander.

Caleb growled silently to himself. This was just great. Four of the greatest minions of Phobos had either escaped or were still at large. What's next, Raythor's return from the Abyss? Worse, Phobos, Cedric and Miranda escape from the Infinite City too?

_OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_

Everyone in the courtyard took notice of the horn of warning. It meant only one thing. Someone escaped the dungeons at the Infinite City.

"I had to jinx it," said Caleb as he ran with all of his forces to the entrance to the Infinite City, hoping that it was not Phobos who had escaped.

* * *

As he passed the cascade, Caleb and a handful of guards and Rebels entered the dungeon complex. He first took notice of Tynar nearly finishing in freeing Aldarn from the arrows that pinned him to the ground. He also noticed that Vathek was trapped in a solid cocoon and Drake was for some reason lying on the ground as if immobilized, regardless of still being conscious.

But a moment later Caleb diverted his eyes to the cells, hoping that Phobos was still on his cell.

"_Please let him be there. Please let him be there," _Caleb repeated over and over in his mind.

And to his huge relief, there was Phobos, scowling in utter displeasure and resentment. And next to him was Cedric, still reduced to his pathetic state.

But the other shapeshifter was not in her cell.

"Let me guess, Miranda escaped, right?" asked Caleb.

"Unfortunately. Shortly after the arrival of the other prisoner we were attacked by an old sorceress and she escaped with both of them," said Vathek with a grouchy tone as Tynar and Aldarn were now helping release him.

Caleb took notice of what Vathek said and quickly realized that the blue girl that they had recently captured was gone too.

"It may be stupid asking now, but still, what did the Mage say about her?" asked Caleb to Vathek in a sour tone.

"The Mage confirmed our suspicions. We actually think that she was sent to assassinate either you, the Guardians, or even the Queen," said Vathek as he finally stood up after being freed.

"I knew it. Too bad she escaped, but that at least will clear any doubts that the Queen had regarding…"

Caleb's sentence was interrupted by full-blown laughter coming from Phobos. All of them looked at the deposed prince, who was laughing uncontrollably.

"What's so funny?" Caleb asked in a challenging tone.

"I must admit, I never imagined that you were such a foolish band. It makes me wonder how you Rebels managed to beat me. But wait, it was never you, right?" Phobos asked in a mocking tone.

"What do you mean by that? We clearly prevailed against you and your _mighty army._ Half of it even abandoned you. I think that proves without doubt our victory toward your tyranny," Caleb said in a resentful tone.

Phobos amusement vanished from his face as his expression became more serious.

"I think that you have some facts distorted,Rebel. From my understanding, it was the Guardians and later my sister that made your victory possible. Without them, you are nothing but a bunch of peasants slightly above bandits," Phobos said in a haughty tone.

Caleb narrowed his eyes hard at that statement, but Vathek beat him at responding to their hated enemy.

"I don't know if being beaten by six children is something to brag about, Your Highness. I think that only makes you look even more pathetic, don't you all agree?" Vathek asked.

All the guards and Rebels present started to laugh at that statement, even Caleb had some chuckles at the Prince's expanse. Needless to say that Phobos was beyond furious at their mockery, but his angry scowl turned to a mocking smile in mere moments.

"Says the group of mighty Rebels that shake in their boots because of an even younger girl, one that looks as harmless as she is weak. If it was possible it would make you even more pathetic than you already are," he said, laughing at the end.

"Enough games, Phobos. Who was she? And the old sorceress, another one of your minions?" Caleb asked in annoyance.

"Why don't you ask the _great and powerful _Mage? I'm sure that she will point you in the right direction, don't you think?" Phobos said, again laughing maniacally as he backed into the shadows of his cell, his laughter still echoing for a few moments more.

Caleb frowned at this and turned to all of his subordinates.

"Call all of our leaders in the Rebellion. As soon as the Mage is back, we will have an emergency meeting."

* * *

In an unknown cave, Jade was lying on the floor, close to a nearly extinguished fire. Even the lack of a sleeping bag or a blanket didn't stop her from falling asleep, but then again, with all the things that had happened to her recently, it was no wonder that she fell asleep minutes after laying down.

Miranda was also near the fire, simply looking at the sleeping blue girl with an unreadable expression on her face. She was considering everything that happened before – the appearance of this mysterious girl, her sudden release from captivity, the equally mysterious sorceress that seemed to know many things of Meridian… She wondered who she was and what her plans were for her and the _others_ she claimed that would come back with her. Sighing, she thought of how close she was to finally being free from Phobos, but once again fate seemed to tie her to another _master_.

"If only I could get even with that wretched Elyon. I would love nothing more than to make that brat suffer," Miranda said to herself as she remembered with almost sadistic delight the fear and betrayal that she saw in Elyon's face during the coronation. A pity that the Guardians had foiled her master's plan.

"But then again, leaving Phobos behind in that dungeon felt so good it almost makes me want to thank Elyon and the Guardians," she added.

"Take that."

Miranda looked back at the blue girl, who was jabbing the air with her fists while sleeping.

"Now you know why I always come on top, Drago," Jade mumbled in her sleep.

Miranda raised an eyebrow, wondering whom this Drago was that the girl spoke of.

"I hope that I wasn't freed only to serve as a caretaker," Miranda muttered as she rose from her position and walked in the direction of the entrance. She had to admit that Nerissa chose her hiding place well. This cavern was actually an impressive complex of several inner caves more or less connected by several paths. In order to not get lost, they had decided to stay in the cave near the entrance, as they awaited Nerissa's return.

"I wonder if I should try to escape that old woman. If I find a portal then I could hide on Earth, but then again I would have to deal with the Guardians. What if I…"

The slight trembling of the ground interrupted Miranda's musings. As she reached the entrance, she was presented with an unbelievable sight.

Nerissa did came with company, but she never would have guessed that she would bring a Gargoyle creature – the one that disappeared after losing his left arm – a humanoid sand like creature that she was fairly certain to be Sandpit, Tracker and his monstrous hound, and even more unbelievable, Raythor. He was much skinnier and paler, but still, it was him alright, complete with his old uniform too.

Nerissa smiled at the shapeshifter's amazed expression.

"As you can see, Raythor, I didn't lie when I said that I was regrouping whatever forces that are still loyal to Prince Phobos," said Nerissa.

"I can see that, great sorceress, and I thank you for that, along with my rescue. But still I must ask, why did you save Miranda and not our master?" Raythor asked, with a slight hint of suspicion in his voice.

Miranda started to get nervous, wondering what they would do to her if they discovered that she left Phobos behind. For all purposes, what she did was treason.

Nerissa smiled maliciously at the nervous shapeshifter, and turned to Raythor, saying, "The spells that keep the prisoners in their cells vary from prisoner to prisoner along with depending on the Queen's power. Phobos' cell is the most difficult to break and I simply didn't have the time to do it. And before you ask, I also didn't free Cedric because he fell from grace. He is useless now."

"Is this true?" Raythor asked a relieved Miranda.

"Yes… that was what she said at the time. Of course it pained me to leave our master behind, but better one of us be out to at least try and free him then all of us being imprisoned, right?" Miranda said, putting on her best fake smile.

"We are not _trying_ – we _will_ free our master when the time is right," Raythor said, slightly narrowing his eyes. He obviously could tell that there was something more to that story, but for now he would let the subject drop. Miranda may not be the most _loyal_ subject, but at least she'd be easier to deal with than Cedric. Truth be told, he was actually satisfied that the Prince had finally punished Cedric for his incessant failures, if what the old sorceress said was true.

He then turns to Tracker and said, "Tracker, I want you and your hound to examine all the caves inside. We have to be sure that our current base is a safe place to us."

Tracker nodded and he and his hound entered, disappearing from sight. Raythor turned to Miranda, eyeing her in case she decided to object his order – after all, she was of equal rank to him until his… departure.

Miranda noticed this and chuckled.

"You don't have to worry about me, Raythor. Aside from the servants, I was never one to give orders to others," Miranda said, smiling innocently.

"_Her smile is a fake, but she is being truthful in that regard. Good," _thought Raythor.

"Don't forget that you have to follow my instructions above all else, Raythor," said Nerissa in a serious tone.

"But of course, Nerissa. You performed a huge favor to us all, and I for one am not an ingrate. All of us will follow your instructions so that we can get our righteous vengeance, both for us and our prince," said Raythor as a feeling of anger and resentment toward the Rebels and the Guardians steeled his resolve.

Gargoyle growled after Raythor's words as if agreeing with him, while Sandpit merely nodded his head. And if Tracker were with them, he would no doubt be in agreement, too. Nerissa smiled at this – all according to plan.

As for Miranda, while the idea of getting back at Elyon at the very least was tempting, she suspected that Nerissa wanted something else; it was not just about simple revenge. But for now she knew that she had to keep her suspicions to herself, even if only to not reveal that she had left Phobos behind.

"So, it will be just the five of us against the _mighty _Queen and her army?" Miranda asked in a skeptical tone. Even she could see that the odds were not in their favor. And if the Guardians interfered as usual…

"Actually, we are still one member short. For some reason, I couldn't find Frost anywhere in Meridian, otherwise he would be here with us. But it is nothing that a simple location spell can't resolve," Nerissa replied.

"What about the other girl? The one that you freed along side Miranda?" asked Raythor.

"Oh yes, I nearly forgot. Where is she, M…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A young and panicked yell interrupted Nerissa as both she and the others turned their attention to the interior of the cave.

"As you guessed, she is inside," Miranda said in a dull voice.

* * *

_A few minutes earlier:_

Sniff! Sniff!

"Huh? What?"

Jade mumbled in her sleep as she felt something touching her face. A wet nose that was sniffing her face, as if trying to identify her by smell.

"Not now, Scruffy," Jade mumbled as she turned her head in the opposite direction.

GRRRRRRRRRR!

Jade's eyes shot open in an instant. No way it could be Scruffy. She remembered seeing him growl a few times and it was never this loud, or mean. So, if it was not him…

Turning her head, Jade eyes widened at the sight of the most ferocious and ugliest dog she had ever seen. His head was similar to a Doberman, but his body was bigger and bulkier than that breed. Not to mention that his yellow pupil-less eyes were not something that normal dogs had.

It growled again, barring its sharp, gleaming teeth in a threatening way, scaring Jade as she backed away from it.

"N-nice doggie. Such a nice doggie. Now stay here while I…"

Something else touched her left shoulder. Looking at her side, she saw a large green hand with long sharp nails. While she dreaded what was behind her, she still dared to turn her head and…

…Immediately regretted it.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

"You should have told us that there was someone else in the cave, otherwise I wouldn't have sent Tracker and his hound," Raythor complained as he ran in the direction from which the scream came.

"Well, excuse me having so much on my mind that I forgot all about her. I messed up, okay?" retorted Miranda, for once being actually honest.

"Still, you should have told me the moment I arrived Miranda," Nerissa said in an almost threatening tone.

To Miranda, the message was clear – if something happened to the blue girl, she was toast.

"_And it had to be __Tracker__ of all beings,"_ thought Miranda as she hoped that the monstrous hunter merely caught her and nothing more.

Raythor hoped that Tracker didn't harm the blue girl, especially considering what Nerissa told him. Unless Phobos really recruited new members or created a new creature without anyone knowing, then this girl was an innocent involved in their conflict thanks to those accursed Rebels. And to think that they proclaimed to be the champions of justice and the defenders of the innocent and helpless on Meridian.

"_Hypocrites. All of them,"_ thought Raythor as a sneer formed on his face.

"HEY, LET GO OF ME! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"

That yell actually calmed his nerves a little. If the girl was complaining then it meant that she was unharmed. But it was better to intervene fast than give Tracker anymore time with her. He still remembered some of the stories of what he did with his prey once he caught it.

As he finally entered the inner cave, Raythor eyes widened in surprise at the… comical situation in front of him. Tracker was lifting the blue girl with his left arm while said girl struggled to free herself from his grip. And the dog was below her, barking in warning.

"LET ME GO! DO YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID, YOU… THING?! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" yelled the girl while she punched and kicked in midair.

"_Well, at least he didn't harm her,"_ Raythor thought as he recovered his composure and coughed slightly.

Tracker noticed Raythor's presence along with Jade, who stopped screaming and struggling. Even the dog stopped and looked at the veteran soldier.

"You can let her go, Tracker. She is no threat to us," Raythor said.

Tracker simply averted his gaze towards Jade, who shivered at his hideous face so close to her. And then, without warning, he opened his hand, letting Jade fall on the ground, hard.

"OUCH, MY BUTT! THANKS A LOT YOU HALLOWEEN REJECT MONSTER!" Jade yelled as she glared at the green monstrosity.

"You should be thankful that he didn't decide to gut you before I arrived," Raythor said, which gained Jade's attention.

"He wouldn't…" Jade started to say, before she looked at Tracker´s red, remorseless eyes, gleaming like the eyes of a predator.

"_Of course he would,"_ Jade thought, suppressing an involuntary shiver.

"Ah, it's a good thing that you are unharmed, Kage. It seems that all kinds of trouble follow you," said a voice that Jade recognized as Nerissa. She and Miranda came to her, accompanied by others.

And WHAT others. A giant cyclopean rock monster, another made of sand, and the hideous creature that was named Tracker along with his hound. The only _normal_ one, or as close to normal as he could go, was the green-gray humanoid similar to the soldiers that served the blonde called Elyon, even if his uniform was more elaborate, probably signifying that he had a higher rank. He also seemed pale and fragile at first glance, yet Jade could see in his eyes determination and courage.

He actually felt out of place when surrounded by all of the other creatures. But then again, Valmont and the Enforcers didn't look like ones to deal with beings like Shendu, Daolon Wong and Tarakudo. And what about Drago and the street wise Ice Gang?

"_Yep, I have seen stranger things in my short life, all right," _Jade thought as she rose to her feet.

"So, this is the one that the Rebel scum mistook as one of us? I don't know if I should feel sorry for her or insulted at their suppositions," Raythor said as he looked at the blue girl and her strange attire.

"Believe me Raythor, I was also surprised in seeing her being dragged into the dungeons. Even the Mage herself seems to believe that she is one of us," said Miranda, surprising most of the others.

With the exception of Nerissa, who smiled to herself.

"Then they are even more disillusioned than I thought. I wonder how they came to prevail against our master," Raythor said with a frown on his face.

"You know that what tilted the scale was the Guardians first, and more recently the young Queen. It was the combination of their forces that resulted in your ultimate defeat, imprisonment or banishment. Never forget that," said Nerissa, directing to the group.

Jade felt something. A foul mood in the atmosphere that was coming from Raythor, Miranda, and the rest of them. A murderous desire fed by utter hatred and resentment that thankfully was not directed at her. Jade could feel that it was directed to the one called Caleb, the fairy girls that she met, and the blonde Queen. For some reason, she could feel and know the emotions that they seemed to hold deep in their hearts, and she felt that those emotions were actually empowering her for some reason.

"_Darkness within. So delicious."_

"_Shut it," _Jade said mentally as she shook her head, trying to clear her mind of that voice, the Queen's voice.

"_Sorry, but I couldn't help myself. Their animosity toward their enemies feels so sweet," _the Queen's voice said in Jade's mind. She could even hear the sound of the Queen's tongue licking her lips.

"_Stupid inner darkness,"_ Jade thought in annoyance.

"We will get back at them. At them and all the others who helped them against Phobos, the true ruler of Meridian. We will take down the usurper in the name of our master, I swear it," Raythor said with certainty in his voice.

Nerissa smiled at this. They would serve well in their purpose, at least until she could advance to the next step. After that… well, she would see.

"I admire your conviction, Raythor, but first I need to locate Frost so that he can join your campaign_._ The more you have, the better your chances," said Nerissa.

"And what about her?" asked Raythor, pointing a finger at Jade.

"It is already settled. Kage already agreed to follow my commands, right Kage?" asked Nerissa, looking at Jade.

"Y-yes," said Jade, frowning slightly.

"Splendid. Kage will join your ranks, after all, she already has a strong reason to go against E…"

"No!"

Raythor's statement took by surprise not only Nerissa but all of the others, including Jade.

"What?" asked Nerissa, clear anger in her voice as she looked at Raythor.

"I am thankful for what you have been doing for us, but this is something that I can't allow. My honor will not let me involve an innocent child in this," said Raythor with strong conviction in his voice.

"_Wow, a bad guy with honor? Now I have seen everything," _Jade thought in surprise and in some relief. Perhaps she could leave them in a peaceful way.

"Are you insane? You are refusing an asset that I so generously provided?" Nerissa asked, scowling at Raythor.

"I have no intention to insult you, but using a child to achieve my goals is something that I can't approve of," Raythor said.

"And what about Miranda? We both know that she is the same age of Elyon and the Guardians, give or take a year," Nerissa retorted.

Miranda scowled at that remark. She was not a child, not anymore that is.

"She is a _special _case, not to mention that she has years of experience in combat, which I doubt that this girl has," argued Raythor.

Now Jade was the one scowling at what Raythor said. Was he calling her weak?

"You are making a mistake, Raythor. In war, honor has to be sacrificed sometimes, especially if you want to reach your goals," said Nerissa, narrowing her eyes.

The old sorceress put her right arm behind her back and then started to charge it with electricity without the others realizing it. If this fool refused to see reason, then she would dispose of him right now.

"I am not discussing this any longer. We will let her leave and if…"

_SWING!_

Something flew between Raythor and Nerissa, making the last one dispel the blast she was preparing in surprise. As they looked at the wall next to them, they a strange blade was deeply buried in the rock. Looking at the direction that it was launched from, they saw Jade with her right arm stretched.

It actually happened too fast. For a moment Jade was feeling her frustration growing more and more and then she snapped, by launching a kunai at the wall with all of her strength. A kunai that came from her right sleeve.

If her purpose was to get their attention, she had succeeded. They were now looking at her with hostile looks.

"What do you think that you are doing?" asked Raythor as he narrowed his eyes, his hand already holding the sheath of his sword.

"Proving a point," Jade replied, also narrowing her eyes.

"And that is?" Raythor asked.

"That I am not as weak and helpless as you think I am," said Jade.

Raythor was actually surprised at her statement, so he took his hand away from his sword. He then advanced in Jade's direction, his eyes boring in Jade's defiant red eyes.

"I didn't say that you are weak or helpless, I merely stated it was dishonorable to use a child in our fight," said Raythor.

"I am not a child. Also, that blonde chick made it my fight when she almost burned me to death," Jade replied.

"Oh really?" Raythor asked, kneeling in order to stare at the blue girl at the same height.

"Really," answered Jade, still looking at him without backing away.

Both remained locked at each other, until Raythor closed his eyes. Then he started to chuckle slightly until he let out a full blow laugh, surprising Jade and the others.

"You have some nerve, I give you that. Perhaps you are not as innocent as you may look," said Raythor with amusement in his voice as he rose and turned back to Nerissa, who merely kept watching this interaction.

"Do any of the rest of you have any problem in admitting her as one of our own?" Raythor asked the others.

Gargoyle merely roared, while both Sandpit and Tracker remained silent. As for Miranda, she merely nodded her head. Satisfied with their answers, Raythor turned back to Jade.

"It seems that you are one of us now, Kage."

* * *

_Minutes later:_

Jade was leaning on a wall, still thinking about what happened. What came over her? She had the perfect chance to simply leave this strange bunch and yet she blew her chance by letting her pride take charge of her actions.

"_Jackie is right, I can be too hasty sometimes for my own good,"_ Jade thought.

And what was worse it was the fact that their leader, the one called Raythor, didn't actually insult her, he was simply not keen in involving an innocent in this affair. She had to admire that, even if he was one of the bad guys of this world.

"_But then again, I am now officially one too," _Jade thought, sighing. There was no point in beating the bush any longer. Besides, they could still be her source of information until she could find a way back home, besides travelling through the Shadow Realm.

"It is done."

Jade look at the old sorceress who was simply spilling strange potions atop a mount of sand, provided by the humanoid sand creature called Sandpit.

"Now I can finally locate Frost, wherever he is," said Nerissa as all of them walked near her.

"It's about time. Knowing him, he may be doing something foolish like fighting the Guardians on his own," Raythor said in an exasperated tone.

"He wouldn't be that stupid, Raythor," said Nerissa.

The old sorceress blasted the sand with her lightning, making it start to swirl and swirl, looking almost like water in a toilet. And by magic, an image started to take shape.

"_Oh, that is some impressive mojo. I wonder if I can learn it," _Jade thought in amazement.

The image became more defined, and what Jade and the others saw was a brown humanoid creature riding a rhinoceros-like beast fighting the same fairies that Jade had encountered.

And he was losing. By a long shot.

"Then again, maybe he _is_ that stupid," Nerissa said in a deadpan tone, making Jade snicker.

"It seems that he is about to be captured," Miranda said, looking at the downed Frost and his mount.

"Not if I open a portal to Earth," Nerissa responded.

That caught Jade's attention.

"_Earth? As in planet Earth?"_ Jade thought in shock.

Nerissa pointed her staff, which shot out a beam of energy that seemed to strike only air, until a blue swirl formed, swirling and swirling until it formed a blue circle of energy the size of an adult.

"_So that's a portal? And it is to Earth?" _Jade thought as she started to think of running through it and finally be on Earth. Her ticket home was right in front of her and all she had to do is…

"All of you at my side. We need to give a proper welcome to our guest," Nerissa said as she blasted the sand, disconnecting the image.

Jade looked again at the portal, her longing for her family increasing tenfold. She wanted so much to finally be back at Uncle's store, to finally embrace Jackie and the rest of her family.

But she couldn't, at least not yet. If she used this portal to go to Earth, there was no telling where she may find herself. Also, if Nerissa could move between this world and Earth freely, then she could find her and bring her back. Worse, Jade could unknowingly lead the old hag to her home, putting her loved ones in danger. If she was a chi sorceress, then Jade knew that Uncle could beat her easily, but whatever magic she used didn't seem to be chi sorcery, so Jade was unsure of who would win. And she couldn't forget the fairies called Guardians and Elyon. What if those five girls were in league with the Demon Sorcerers? Or what if Elyon wanted to rule Earth along with her world? It was a huge risk to take, even for Jade.

So for now she'd stay and do whatever they wanted. For now.

* * *

Frost and his mount passed through the unexpected portal, not really caring where in Meridian he landed. After he regained his bearings, he noticed that he was inside a dark cave, with only one source of light that was focused on him.

"Welcome, Frost."

Suddenly the cave became more illuminated, and Frost saw in front of him an old woman with a strange staff.

"I am Nerissa, and I brought you here to take your rightful place…"

Looking around, Frost saw to his surprise other familiar faces – Raythor, Miranda, a Gargoyle, Sandpit, Tracker and…

Who was that blue girl in strange attire?

"…Among the Knights of Vengeance."

As soon as Nerissa finished, she raised her right arm and blasts of electricity came from it, striking Frost and all the others, including Jade.

The electricity coursed harmless around Jade's waist, forming a belt, with a strange image of a red snake circling itself on the lock.

"_Well, at least the belt is cool."_

**End of the episode.**

**A.N.**: And there you have it. The first rewrite, of the episode A is for Anonymous, of season 2 of WITCH. I hope that you all like how this episode ended up as much I took pleasure in writing it. And to reward you for your patience, here is the title for the rewrite of the next episode:

**B is for Betrayal and Beware**

**Coming soon!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A.N.: **Thank you all for enjoying this story so far. I admit that it is being more difficult to write the episode rewrites than I originally anticipated, but I am also enjoying writing these chapters and making the twists and changes that Jade's presence could cause for all on WITCH. It is also interesting seeing how some of these changes came from sudden inspiration in some cases. Not that I don't have a layout of the story, but I like to leave some room to either improvement or include something new as long as it contributes to the plot.

By the way, The Literary Lord has started a page for this story on TV Tropes. It is small so far, which is understandable considering that the story is still more or less at its beginning, but still I recommend that you give a look if you can.

Also a huge thank you to Ander Arias (the most recent member of PDJ) for the cover to this story. I hope you all like it.

And now back to the show (sorry, chapter).

Betaed by: Zim'sMostLoyalServant (and the previous chapter was beated by him too, sorry for the mishap)

**B is for Betrayal and Beware**

**Part 1**

Up. And down. Up. Down. Up. Down.

"_Seriously, how the heck does this thing work?"_ Jade thought as for the hundredth time a kunai slid from her sleeve directly into her palm the moment she wanted a weapon. And when she didn't want one, the kunai slid back into her sleeve and even more amazing was the fact that she didn't feel it when touching the sleeve.

"_Where in the world does this outfit keeps its weapons?"_ Jade thought again as she closed her right hand and imagined a few shuriken in it. And once she opened her hand, a handful of the throwing stars were there.

"_Well, if I can do this with coins then I can make a living in Las Vegas,"_ Jade thought as she imagined herself dressed in a fedora suit and making magic tricks on stage to the amazement of the audience.

"How many weapons do you have?" Miranda asked, having spent several minutes watching the blue girl making that strange knife appear and disappear several times, and now those star shaped objects she imagined would be used by throwing.

"As many as I want," Jade responded while still looking at the shuriken.

"_I think,"_ she added mentally as she closed her hand and then reopened it with the shuriken gone.

"You are a strange one," Miranda said, while she moved her legs in a playful manner.

"_So says the girl that can turn into a spider like creature," _Jade thought in a sarcastic tone.

"You dare challenge me?"

Both girls turn their attention to the quarreling Raythor and Frost. The other Knights and Nerissa were also looking at the two, waiting to see how this would end.

"The Knights of Vengeance can have but one leader," Raythor said in a challenging tone.

"And it will be Frost," Frost responded in defiance, ready to fight for the leadership of their newfound group.

"Look at you Raythor, barely half the man you used to be. You even let another little girl join our ranks!" Frost said in an almost disgusted tone.

Both Jade and Miranda frowned at this. Sexist jerk.

"Any one of these _children_ is more useful than you and that mount of yours combined. And even now I am still twice the soldier you will ever be." Raythor replied.

Frost was now completely enraged and predictably he rushed at Raythor, trying to punch the old soldier with all of his might.

But Raythor simply smiled and sidestepped the incoming punch, avoiding it with no apparent effort on his part. Frost skidded, barely keeping his footing as he tried to turn back and attempting to once again charge at Raythor.

"You always relied on brute strength," Raythor said, as calm as ever while he prepared for his opponent's predictable attack.

Frost snarled in anger and tried to punch Raythor again, this time with his left arm. Raythor avoided it. Now Frost tried with his right. Once again, Raythor avoided it while he raised his hands in a combat pose.

"If you started using your brain now…" Raythor said as he avoided another punch from Frost, and this time he positioned himself behind his opponent.

"…You would only hurt yourself," Raythor concluded, smiling in a taunting expression.

Frost was starting to feel an increasing fatigue because of his failed attacks. With one mighty effort fueled by his anger, he launched towards Raythor, arms outstretched, ready to catch the old soldier.

Raythor merely sidestepped again, but this time he let his cape cover Frost and block his line of vision, which blinded the brute for an instant. Then in a swift movement he took his cape back, which made Frost lose his balance and fall to the ground, completely exhausted.

Jade watched in amazement how Raythor beat Frost, who was nearly double his size. It reminded her of Jackie's fights with Tohru when he still worked for the Dark Hand. Jackie would move, sidestep, or completely avoid the giant's mighty attacks by taking advantage of his opponent's lower speed and agility. But still, their fights used to be more or less evenly matched, with Jackie having to make huge efforts in avoiding Tohru, and her giant friend was clearly more resilient than Frost. By comparison, this fight was clearly one sided, in Raythor's advantage.

"Is he really this good?" Jade asked Miranda, not hiding her interest in the fight.

The shapeshifter merely looked at the blue girl in curiosity, but then simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Raythor was indeed one of the best soldiers of Phobos' army. He may be the weakest of all of us – well, except perhaps _you,_ of course – but his mind and discipline more than compensate for his lack of strength. I think that only Cedric could match him in that aspect," Miranda said, while her thoughts drifted to the other shapeshifter.

"_How are you doing my beloved?"_ Miranda thought with an almost sad look on her face. How much she wanted to rescue him when Nerissa freed her, but her practical side told her that Cedric's current state would only delay them in their escape. She hated to leave him behind, but she didn't have a choice.

"_Don't worry my love, I will come for you, I promise," _Miranda swore mentally, clenching her fist.

_Clap! Clap! Clap!_

All of them turned to Nerissa, who was clapping while she sat on a makeshift throne of rock. She was pleased with this. Indeed, Raythor would serve as the best leader for the Knights; after all in terms of leadership, he was as good as Caleb, perhaps better, considering his experience.

Still, whether they would get their revenge or not, it didn't matter in the end. All that mattered was her _own _goals_._

"High marks, Raythor. Truly, an impressive display. But I must ask, if you are their leader, what will you lead them towards?" Nerissa asked, looking to the old soldier.

"I already told you – vengeance. And we will start by striking against those that swore an oath to Prince Phobos, and yet betrayed our master," Raythor said, clenching his right fist in anger.

Ah, Vathek and Tynar. It didn't surprise the old sorceress, especially the former. She knew that Raythor had some bad blood regarding Vathek.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Nerissa asked, as she raised her right hand.

Electricity surrounded her arm and a stream of lightning struck a wall. Dust covered the cave for a few moments.

"Cough, cough!"

"_Was that really necessary?" _Jade thought as she coughed to expel the dust from her lungs. Why did bad guys have to be so overdramatic?

As the dust cleared, all of them could see in the distance both the village and the castle towering over it. It was still the dead of the night, so most of the inhabitants were sleeping peacefully.

Unaware of what was about to be unleashed on them.

Gargoyle moved into the big hole in the wall and then kneeled, waiting for the others. Jade joined the others as they walked toward the giant's back. But before she could climb the giant's back, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and found Raythor, looking her in the eyes.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Again, I say that you can leave when you want. You are not bound to an oath like the rest of us," he said.

Now that Jade knew that he was truly concerned for her wellbeing, she actually smiled. He wasn't really that bad. Maybe she could count on him later on.

"_Besides, he is far more trustworthy than Nerissa or the rest of this lot,"_ she added mentally.

"Well, I'm not one to back down so easily. Besides, I want my share of the action," Jade said in a confident tone.

Raythor blinked, and then he laughed wholeheartedly, even giving Jade a slap on the back, nearly making her lose her balance.

"You truly are a strange one, Kage," Raythor said while he continued to laugh.

"_Oh great, so I'm strange in this world too?" _Jade thought, slightly annoyed, as she started to climb Gargoyle's back. Fortunately, she already had some practice in climbing giants thanks to Po Kong.

Raythor merely watched the blue girl climb Gargoyle's back. He had to admit she was skilled enough in that.

"So, do you really trust her?"

Raythor turned at the sound of Miranda´s voice, narrowing his eyes at the sight of the shapeshifter, who was now by his side.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raythor asked in a cold voice.

"Come on, we both know that whatever she is, she is not a Meridianite. We don't know who and what she is. For all purposes, the Mage can be half right and she is some sort of shapeshifting monster," Miranda said, smirking at Raythor.

"Like you, perhaps?" Raythor asked, which made Miranda frown at him.

"No need to insult me. I merely stated that she is an unknown factor. What if this is all a ruse, a way for the rebels to round up and capture the remaining forces of our master?" Miranda asked in a suspicious tone.

"I don't think that's the case. I don't see any deception in her eyes. My guess is that she is here by accident," Raythor replied.

"Awfully convenient that she lands on Meridian, especially with a _Veil_ around it," Miranda shot back.

Raythor frowned at this, but still had to consider Miranda's suppositions. Who knew if this was not a trap? It was not that normal on Meridian seeing a tomboy like her. Not that he hadn't seen his fair share before, but her eyes clearly showed a thirst for adventures and eagerness to prove herself, something that girls her age normally didn't care for.

The next few days would probably dispel or confirm whatever doubts he had.

"Alright, we will keep an eye on her, but as subtly as possible. The last thing I want right now is for any inside fighting," Raythor eventually said.

Miranda nodded and started to climb Gargoyle's back. Raythor sighed as if in preparation of what was coming ahead. He also started to climb the rock giant, reaching the others that were more or less spread around Gargoyle's upper back and shoulders, including the animals.

Positioning himself on Gargoyle's head, he pointed his right index finger, to which the giant complied as he moved forward, his footsteps shaking the ground as he advanced toward the village and the castle.

"WOO-HOO!"

All the others, except Gargoyle who kept walking, turned toward Jade, who was spreading her arms above her head, as if she was in a roller coaster ride.

"What? It's my first time riding a giant," Jade said as she looked at the others.

The other Knights merely turned their heads back in slight exasperation.

"Kids these days," grumbled Frost.

* * *

Nerissa smiled as she watched the Knights exit the cave. So far so good. In a few days, at most, they would most likely kidnap one if not all of their targets. Again, what happened to either Vathek or Tynar was of no concern as long as it helped her plan.

Still, she did have to admit that the blue girl's presence was not expected, but one more Knight would probably increase her chances against the Guardians, especially considering that she is an unknown factor. And she shouldn't forget Kage's power over shadows. A power and magic practice that she was more than certain had disappeared a long time ago, thanks to Kandrakar. Perhaps the first Oracle feared it somehow?

"I must investigate properly on this matter at the workshop. Fortunately, the Mage had more information about shadow magic in her library. When I have the time to spare, I will see to it. And speaking of time…"

Looking at the moon high in the sky, Nerissa also realized that it was time to return to the palace. If she knew Caleb as well as she thought, then he most likely had already called for an emergency meeting considering Miranda, Sandpit, and Kage's escapes, along with the failures at capturing Tracker and Frost.

"If all goes well, Kage's power will be mine to command along with the Heart of Meridian," Nerissa said as she smiled wickedly and raised her staff. Green flashes of light appeared around her and in an instant she was gone, leaving the cave empty of any presence.

* * *

In the Silver Dragon, Yan Lin was preparing herself for sleep. And how she really needed her "beauty sleep". Earlier, she and her son and daughter-in-law had been slightly worried for Hay Lin not showing up to help at the restaurant when she should have, but she was able to calm her son and his wife's worries by saying that she was simply going out with her friends. But privately, the old woman knew that something had happened to her and possibly the other Guardians.

Fortunately, Hay Lin arrived around dinnertime and apologized for being late by stating that she had been hanging out with her friends at the mall. After a few parental speeches that her son gave to her, Yan Lin was able to be alone with Hay Lin and asked the _real _reason; Hay Lin admitted that she and the Guardians had had a confrontation with Frost in their world.

It worried Yan Lin that Frost was resourceful enough to arrive on Earth, despite his reputation of being nothing more than a brute. But what truly concerned her was the portal that so _conveniently_ opened at the battlefield, which allowed him to escape to Meridian. While it was not impossible to have happened on its own, the old woman recognized the signs of perfect timing to help his escape.

The question is, help by whom? Who would have any interest in saving that brute?

"I guess I have to leave that question for another day. Right now this old girl needs some rest," Yan Lin said to herself as she entered her room.

As she moved towards her bed, Yan Lin looked to her side in the direction of her desk and remembered that she had forgotten to clean it. On the desk were several books that she had used to research about Hay Lin's dream of Elyon's coronation.

"Ah yes, the desk. Let me just tidy it and then off to bed," Yan Lin said.

Picking her books up at random, she then noticed one that caught her attention. A book that she had never read before, with the title _Yōkai: A Study Of Japanese Folklore._

"Strange, where did I get this book? Oh, I remember… it was Nerissa's present," Yan Lin said, remembering that particular birthday. To think that a month later something would happen that would break them apart.

Sighing, the old woman put the book back on the shelf along with the others. There was no point in thinking about the past, especially one that she hoped to not repeat with her granddaughter and her friends.

* * *

"Are you sure that she is not here?" Caleb asked a pair of Guards that he had ordered to search the palace in case the Mage stayed after the party.

"Positive, Captain Caleb. The only places that we didn't check were the royal library, the throne room, and the Queen's bedroom," one soldier answered.

"And why were those rooms not searched?" Caleb asked with a steel tone in his voice.

"Well… the thing is, access to those room is only permitted to the royal family or anyone they let in. And since Pr… Queen Elyon didn't give us permission to…"

"Never mind, I understand," Caleb said, interrupting the soldier. This was just great. Terrific even. The one they needed the most was officially absent. And the others were getting impatient to start the meeting.

"Leave us for the moment. And if you find the Mage during your patrol, tell her that we are having an emergency meeting," Caleb said.

The two soldiers saluted and left Caleb alone with the more than two-dozen individuals that made up the leadership of the Rebellion. His closest friends and lieutenants Aldarn, Drake and Vathek were near his seat, from which he presided over the meeting. The rest were composed of his father Julian, Aldarn's father, and other warriors, along with several village chiefs or elders that openly supported the Rebellion against Phobos. Or more precisely, they used to be chiefs and elders, considering that Phobos had decimated their villages in retaliation for their "treason"_._ Fortunately, those actions were more empty threats than anything, considering that most of the inhabitants escaped and even better their desire for vengeance reinforced the Rebellion. But of course, they didn't fight against the tyrant just for that or simply because it was their duty.

They wanted their compensation now.

"We have to wait a few moments longer. I'm sure that the Mage will be here any second," Caleb said in a reassuring tone.

"You said that nearly half an hour ago. And another half hour before that. And another," grumbled an old man, a village elder named Kur, as he frowned in dissatisfaction at having to continue to wait in this already long delayed meeting.

"And we will wait until sunrise if we must until the Mage is able to participate," Vathek grumbled at Kur, glaring at him in defiance.

The elder's frown grew even deeper.

"And pray Escanor, what is so important that is keeping our _great Mage _so occupied?_"_ Kur asked in an almost mocking tone, making Caleb and some of his friends narrow their eyes at the indirect provocation.

But before Caleb could retort, the doors of the meeting room opened on their own, as the figure of the "Mage" entered.

"My business is my own concern, elder, rest assure that everything I do is to keep the prisoners in their cells where they belong," the "Mage" said in a serious tone.

Kur closed his eyes and chuckled softly at her remark.

"Well, it's a little too late for that," the elder said in a sarcastic tone.

The "Mage" raised her eyebrow in curiosity, but before she could ask, Caleb turned to her with a smile and relieved expression on his face.

"We are glad you can join us in this meeting, Mage, but where were you? We have been searching the palace for hours to find you," Caleb asked in a polite tone.

"I am deeply sorry for my long absence, but one of the reasons, as I stated, was to find new ways of keeping the prisoners sealed away, so I have been in my workshop since last night, until a few minutes ago when two Guards informed me of this meeting," the "Mage" answered, directing at all the men present.

This seemed to satisfy everyone at the table except Kur, who frowned at this.

"Well, it seems that you haven't been doing your job very well, because yesterday two of our prisoners escaped, with one not being even properly locked up," Kur said in an acidic tone.

This made both Caleb and Julian frown at the disrespectful old man.

"Now see here…" Caleb started in an angry tone, but his father interrupted him by addressing the elder in a more calm way, yet with a certain _edge_ on his voice.

"I believe that you are doing a very grave disservice putting the blame on our dear friend. After all, it was her knowledge of the ruins of the Infinite City that helped most of us stay hidden from Phobos and his army. If not, perhaps we would all be imprisoned or enslaved by the tyrant even today."

Caleb calmed himself at hearing his father defending the "Mage" and smiled in approval at his father. Aldarn looked at Kur and also glared at him.

"Not to mention the invaluable knowledge that helped us fight Phobos and his tricks too many times for me to even count. I think that the Mage has already proved her more than evident _usefulness_ in our fight, but what about you? Did you participate in _any_ of the battles that we faced? Or did you merely contend yourself with staying on the sidelines barking orders to the rest?" Aldarn asked in a defiant tone.

"HOW DARE YOU?!"

Both Aldarn and Kur rose from their seats in preparation for a fight, but…

_THUMP_

Caleb's sword cut the space between the two of them and the surface of the table, ending whatever hostilities that seemed to be starting.

"We aren't reunited here so that we can just fight with each other. Phobos may no longer be a problem but we still have to deal with several of his minions still at large, so we still have work to do in order to truly free Meridian from his oppression. So please, both of you calm down so that we can discuss the best course of action toward this problem," Caleb said in a calm, commanding tone.

Both Aldarn and Kur glared at each other one last time before resuming their seats. As the atmosphere calmed down again, a middle-aged man spoke up, "While I do agree with you, Caleb, in keeping our ties and alliances for the coming times while we help the Queen with ruling and reforming our world, I think that I can ask in the name of all that are present here – what happened that allowed so many of our hated enemies to remain free?"

"So I assume that the capture of Frost, Tracker and Gargoyle failed?" the "Mage", who had been mostly silent up until now, as if reflecting, asked.

Caleb sighed.

"Yes, and worse than that, I suspect that Sandpit is also activate and no longer constrained to Torus Filney."

This made many of the rebel leaders murmur in worried tones at this information. That bloodthirsty monster was still alive, and worse, completely free? It didn't bode well for them.

"Things are indeed progressing well, so _well _in fact that we have to deal with not only four but SIX of Phobos' monsters since two of them are not in their cages as they should be. You promised us that no one could escape the dungeons of the Infinite City," Kur said, again pointing an accusing finger at the "Mage", which made her frown at the old man.

"I can't say anything in my defense. I was sure that no one could escape those cells on their own once the proper spells were in place," the "Mage" said in a harsh tone.

The elder was about to retort, but Vathek beat him to it, saying, "It is not your fault, great Mage, your spells do keep the prisoners in their cells. What happened is that we didn't account on outside help to free them."

All of the leaders turned to Vathek and then to Caleb, all asking the same question without anyone speaking it.

Who?

"We are not sure who freed both Miranda and the blue girl that we captured at the procession. All that we know is that it was a powerful sorceress who freed them, considering how easily she indisposed Vathek and the other wardens," Caleb said, guessing their unspoken question.

"So it was you and your so called _elite_ that blundered after all," Kur said, now looking venomously at Vathek, which made the blue drake glare intensely at the old man.

But before another argument could erupt, Caleb resumed his speech.

"Despite these small shortcomings, overall we have achieved our objective. Phobos was defeated and the true heir is on the throne. Now all we have to do is simply clean up whatever waste is left from the Prince's tyranny."

"With six of his most dangerous minions still at large, it won't be that easy Caleb," said the "Mage".

"While we know the dangers that five of them present to us, I have to ask about the blue one? From what I heard, she seems to be nothing more than a young child. Is she really such a threat?" asked one of the chiefs.

"The blue girl is a shapeshifter like Cedric and Miranda, and indeed she seems to have been recruited and experimented on by Phobos in recent times, but make no mistake. Her youthful appearance hides a bloodthirsty monster that thrills in killing others. There is no need to feel pity for her," the "Mage" said as she waved her right hand, making an image appear on the table.

The image showed Jade in her shadowkhan ninja uniform, presenting her with almost perfect detail, except her face, that had red pupil-less eyes and two long fangs in her mouth, which was open in a snarl, a long tongue emerging from it. Her nails were slightly longer and sharp, and around her feet, black tendrils or tentacles emerged, complementing the already dangerous appearance of the blue girl.

The "Mage" smiled at the reaction of all the rebel leaders. They seemed to be somewhat apprehensive after looking at Kage. Good, fearful fools always strike first and then ask questions later, if they ask any at all.

"My word, look at her. Is she really just a child?" one elder asked in a fearful tone.

"She really does look like a beast that crawled straight from the Abyss of Shadows," one chief said, eyeing the blue girl's monstrous face in fear.

"Shapeshifters and their accursed blood. As if there aren't enough of those abominations in our world," Kur cursed, spitting on the floor.

"It doesn't matter how dangerous she seems. I saw with my own eyes the Queen's power almost burning her to ashes. I doubt that she will try anything against us after what the Queen did to her," Caleb said.

"And what about the others?" Julian asked his son.

"She and the others are most likely spread throughout Meridian. On their own any of them represent minimal threats, perhaps attacks on small villages or attacking caravans at the most," Aldarn said.

"But what if they join forces? Together, those six could become a serious threat," asked a chief.

Caleb merely smiled at this.

"Not without a proper leader. Not one of them has a history of or has shown any leadership skills. And the blue girl even less, considering how easily we thwarted her assassination attempt," Caleb said smugly.

"Indeed. With Cedric incapacitated and Raythor gone forever, there is no one left to take charge. I sincerely doubt that they could even work together without killing each other first," Vathek said, softly laughing at his joke, making some of the others laugh too.

"Perhaps we should inform the Queen of this potential danger anyhow. United or not, they can still be a serious threat to our new regime," Drake said, looking thoughtful.

"I disagree. The Light of Meridian's powers are closely connected with her state of mind and spirit. Miranda's escape alone could agitate Queen Elyon and make her lose control of her enormous power, so I suggest that we do not inform her of these recent developments until she is called by Kandrakar. They can help her keep her powers in check in case she becomes… emotional," said the "Mage".

"I agree. I think we all saw what can happen if Queen Elyon lets her emotions get the better of her. So until Kandrakar contacts us, what we discussed about those six is a classified affair. Are you all in agreement?" Caleb asked, gaining affirmative nods from most of the leaders, even Kur. All of them remembered well the Battle of Meridian Plains and the Queen's angry outburst.

Still, Drake narrowed his eyes, wondering if that was the best course of action after all. While he also remembered the fearful power of the Queen, it still felt like they were overlooking an imminent threat.

"If I may, I must leave now. Kandrakar will surely contact me in the coming days, so I have much to prepare," said the "Mage".

"Oh yes, of course, thank you for your help, Mage. Just tell us when they do contact you," said Caleb.

The "Mage" nodded and walked to the doors, opening them with her magic. With her back to them, she smiled deviously as she left the room.

"Now to other matters. I have been hearing complaints about our recent alliance with the Guards. So, what are your complaints?" Caleb asked.

"We can't trust them," said one the chiefs.

"They are our sworn enemies," said another.

"They should be locked up with Phobos," snarled Kur.

Caleb sighed. This would last longer than he had anticipated.

* * *

Gargoyle continued to walk, getting nearer and nearer to the village. Jade had to admit it was fun to be piggyback riding the rock giant. The closest that she ever had to this situation was with Po Kong, and even then her predicamentat at the time didn't let her enjoy the experience.

"_We are getting awfully near the village. I hope that they aren't stupid enough to attack them so suddenly and openly. It's suicide," _Jade thought, as they kept getting closer to the village.

"HALT!"

Raythor's command made Gargoyle stop. Raythor surveyed the small woods below. Perfect.

"We will camp here. Let us down," Raythor ordered.

Gargoyle knelt down and raised his hand up close to Raythor. The old soldier walked towards it and let the giant lower him to ground level. The others simply either jumped from Gargoyle's back like Frost, Tracker and Sandpit, or scaled down like Miranda and Kage.

"Why do we need to camp? We are all fresh enough to successfully storm the castle," stated Frost.

All the other Knights looked at him with dumbfound looks on their faces.

"What?" Frost asked, slightly embarrassed by their stares.

"Don't tell me that you were expecting that we would attack them so soon," Raythor said in an exasperated tone.

"Why not? We six are the elite of Phobos. Even with the blue dwarf slowing us we can still…"

"LOSE!" Raythor shouted, which stopped Frost.

"Use that small brain of yours for once and think. Do you really think that us _seven_ can actually beat _all_ the Guards and rebels together? The Guards alone are a small army, the rebels too. Can you do the math?" Raythor asked in a mocking tone.

"And let us not forget Elyon's power. She alone would without doubt beat us in a heartbeat," Miranda added.

"I'll say," murmured Jade as she shivered slightly at remembering that awful energy coursing through and burning her body. An experience that she didn't want to repeat, not ever again.

Frost growled to himself, but now that he was actually pondering, the numbers were clearly against them. As much as he hated to admit it, Raythor was right.

"Then what do you have in mind, oh_ great leader?"_ Frost asked Raythor in a clearly mocking tone.

But the old soldier merely ignored the brute and surveyed all of the Knights.

"As I said previously, the numbers are not on our side. The Guards' betrayal, added to the imprisonment of our Prince and the Lurdens…"

"And Cedric," Miranda cut in, frowning slightly at Raythor.

"Right; with all of them imprisoned, we are at a clear disadvantage. And I am not even considering Elyon and the Guardians," Raythor said while he glared at Miranda.

"In other words, we are outmanned and outgunned. Terrific," Jade said with a sigh.

The others looked at her curiously.

"Outgunned? What expression is that?" asked Raythor.

"Oh, umm… it is an expression used on my world, another way of saying that we are at a seriously disadvantage in terms of weapons or power," Jade said, sweating slightly.

"Ah, I see," Raythor said, seemingly satisfied with the explanation.

But not all of the Knights seemed satisfied by Jade's explanation. Miranda was looking at the blue girl in a suspicious manner.

"_Strange, now that I notice it, the way she talks resembles the Earth expressions that Elyon uses. I wonder…" _Miranda thought as she pondered on this.

"Regardless, we still have one advantage. If what Nerissa said to me is true, then they think that you six are all isolated and dispersed throughout Meridian. They probably even consider that you cannot regroup and work against them because of the lack of leadership. By all means they probably don't even know that I am back," Raythor continued.

"_Back? Back from where?" _wondered Jade.

"Then we have the element of surprise on our side," concluded Frost.

"Indeed, and to take full advantage of it we need to capture Tynar when he is accompanied by the least Guards or rebels possible. That way, our chances for success increase exponentially," Raythor said.

"And what about Vathek? Do you plan on raiding the Infinite City?" asked Miranda.

"There is no need for that. If I know him, he will come to us after we capture Tynar. Whatever honor he still has will demand that," Raythor replied, smiling in expectation. Truth be told he didn't like to use the sense of honor of a person against them, but considering what Vathek did to him, he would make an exception this time around.

Again, Jade started to feel the rise of negative emotions from the other six. She could even see the degree of the hatred and resent that they harbored in their bodies, with Tynar being the least hated when compared to Vathek. Raythor's hatred was particularly intense. She could see that there had to be some bad blood between him and that blue brute.

Still, she had to point out something flawed in Raythor's plan.

"Um, if I may…"

Raythor and the others looked towards Jade, who decided to voice her opinion.

"Your plan takes into consideration knowing the exact place and time when this Tynar will be the most vulnerable, but how can you know when and where?" Jade asked, actually expecting some angry shout or calling her snot-nosed-know-it-all brat.

"Oh, but I have already thought about that part," Raythor said, smiling at Jade.

Jade furrowed her eyes in curiosity. Why was he looking at her like that?

* * *

_Three days later:_

"POTATOES! FETCH ME MORE POTATOES!"

One of the kitchen workers went straight to the pantry in search of the ingredients asked by the chef. They needed to hurry. The Queen's lunch couldn't be delayed for any reason.

Another worker fetched a red apple and put it in the same tray that held Elyon's meal. For some reason, the new Queen loved that type of fruit. It was actually a mundane request when compared to what her brother used to order.

The worker went to the chef and asked, "Is it ready?"

"Almost. Just a few more potatoes and it is done," answered the chef.

"Good. I really can't wait to serve lunch for Queen Elyon for the first time," said the worker, jumping in excitement.

"What are you talking about? We have all been serving her for months," asked the chef.

"When she was a princess, but now she is the Queen. There is a huge difference. And now it is my turn," said the worker.

The chef sighed in resignation. Young servants and their dreams.

"Still, I have to say things have changed around the palace in the few days since the royal brat was defeated," said the cooker.

"Indeed. The overall atmosphere seems to be lighter ever since his defeat. Even the Guards seem happier with their duties. And those boys of the rebellion that are reinforcing the army are also a good visage, if I say so myself," said the worker, blushing slightly.

"Our work increased exponentially, though. Along with the Queen and her new advisors we also have the Guards and the rebels. And let us not forget the prisoners," said the chef.

"You know, I sometimes wish to know which bowl is to be served to the Prince, then I could put some rat poison in it," said the worker, her eyes darkening as she frowned.

"Don't say those things. Despite everything, he is the brother of the new Queen. And if she hears what you said?" said the chef.

"But don't you agree with me?" asked the worker, looking seriously at the chef.

The cooker lowered her head, looking at the ground.

"I will not deny that I share the same resentment that you have toward the Prince. And that blasted snake that he had for a commander. In fact, most of us have been dreaming about his defeat for a long time," said the chef.

"And it finally happened," said the worker almost in a whisper.

"Yes, and good riddance. He and the rest of his monsters can rot in the dungeons for all I care," said the chef.

"Not all of them, that girl that accompanied the Queen was the least mean of all of them," said the worker.

"Oh yes, what was her name… Miranda, I think? She really didn't order us around that much, when compared to the snake at least. But I also heard that she was only pretending to be the Queen's friend as part of the Prince's plot," said the chef.

"Yes I know, but still I think that she d…"

The worker stopped, surprised at what she saw or more precisely what she didn't see.

The apple. It had disappeared.

"Strange. Did I forget to take an apple from the pantry? Oh well," the worker said as she moved in the pantry's direction.

What she failed to notice was a small shadow on the ground, moving to the stairs and leaving the kitchen.

* * *

The small shadow moved around the hallway, avoiding being seen by the Guards that patrolled the palace, two by two each time. Fortunately, they never looked at the ground when making their patrols.

As the shadow found a dark corner it stopped, deciding it was a safe place to be for the moment. And from it emerged Jade, holding a red apple in her hands.

"Finally, I can eat. Seriously, I'm famished," Jade said as she bit the apple in a hungry manner.

While she ate, she pondered what she had been doing for the previous three days. As Raythor had instructed, her mission was to find where Tynar was stationed.

"Easy for him to say. This place is huge. How in the world will I ever find where this guy is?" Jade wondered aloud as she bit the apple again.

Why did he give her this mission? Surely there was another more suitable, like Miranda for example. After all, she had worked in this palace.

"But she can still be spotted while you becoming a shadow makes you practically invisible, blah, blah, blah," Jade said as she moved her hand like it was a mouth. Raythor's mouth, to be more precise.

Jade had a suspicion of the real motive. It was a test, to prove that she had a place in the Knights of Vengeance, and above all else that she was no traitor. Raythor had doubts about her loyalty; small, but they were there, she could feel it. But the others had stronger doubts, especially Frost and Miranda. She could bet that this was Raythor's way for her to prove her worth to the others.

If she succeeded, that was.

"Well, back to the mess hall. Maybe this time I'll find Tynar in there. Thank goodness that I know what he looks like," Jade said as she threw away the nearly clean eaten apple while her body seemed to melt and turn into a shadow on the ground, moving again on its own.

* * *

Laughter. Jeers. Arm-wrestling. She had to admit it seemed to be the jolliest place in the entire palace. It reminded her of the tavern in Paris that Viper had taken her and Jackie to that one time.

Still, there was one thing that Jade took notice of these past three days being in this place disguised as a shadow. For some reason, the mess hall seemed to be divided in two sections, two extremes – one for the Guards, and the other for the rebels. At first, she attributed it to some form of tradition or ritual. Different world, different rules after all.

But then she noticed some of the rebels throwing dirty looks at the Guards' tables. Faces that contorted in a sneer of resentment and hate. She didn't need her capacity for feeling the darkness within to realize that the rebels seemed to hate the Guards. The question was why, why would they resent so much their apparent allies? It didn't make any sense to her. Unless they still held onto old grudges from the time that they were enemies. And the Guards seemed to be completely oblivious about the rebels' feelings.

"_Funny how that makes them not that different from the other Knights. Tch, why do so many in this world give so much importance to revenge? If they could, I think that they would wait centuries to take their revenge, like old dragon breath," _Jade thought, thinking about Shendu and his obsession for vengeance that lasted for nine centuries. Talk about holding a grudge.

"TYNAR, YOU HAVE COME AT LAST! WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!"

The shout from one of the Guards dispersed Jade's thoughts. Poking her head out from the shadow, she could see with better precision the person she'd been waiting for all this time.

Tynar.

"_Finally, I found you."_

Jade ducked her head back into the shadow and moved towards Tynar as he sat at a table with three Guards. The shadow stopped and Jade prepared to eavesdrop on what they would be discussing.

"Sorry for taking this long to come back, my friends, but only today did I have a reprieve from my duties," Tynar said as he held a mug of beer in his right hand.

"Don't give us that crap, you only came because of today's menu," one of the Guards said in a playful tone.

Tynar smiled at that.

"Fine, you caught me. What can I say? I would sell my own mother for today's special," Tynar said as he let out a full-blown laugh.

The Guards gave heartfelt laughs at Tynar's joke too. Even Jade snickered to herself as quietly as she could.

As the laughter dies down, one the Guards asks with some uncertainty, "But seriously Tynar, how are you doing back at… well, you know where."

Tynar´s face crumbles to a more somber expression. Even Jade felt the sudden change in the atmosphere. From Tynar she felt unexpected emotions – shame, regret and… guilt?

"_Since when is that darkness within?" _Jade thought in wonder.

"_Darkness within is formed by much more than hate and anger, Jade. Pain and suffering are more of a source than simple hatred."_

Jade shook her head in order to get rid of the disembodied voice of the Queen. Seriously, why does she have to appear at the least opportune moments?

"_Just so that you don't forget about your current… predicament."_

That sentence came accompanied by a faint snicker from the Queen. Jade tried to ignore it as she concentrated on what they were talking about.

"I won't deny that it was difficult to return to Sonder Hill. Seeing what had become of that village made my heart ache in sorrow," Tynar said in a somber tone.

"That is why you volunteered to help in the reconstruction, right?" asked another Guard in a quiet tone.

"Yes, it was the least I could do for them. Even at the time, I never felt right with myself after the attack," Tynar said, now drinking from the mug.

He and the Guards remained silent for a moment, simply drinking their mugs in quiet.

"Well, today is my afternoon off so after I eat the special I will probably fish around the lake and enjoy a quiet night, for tomorrow I will be back to Sonder Hill first thing in the morning," Tynar said, his mood now improving slightly.

"Stay with us for a time, Tynar. While we eat and drink we can share some stories until next time," another Guard said.

Tynar smiled at this.

"I don't see why not," Tynar said as he and the others raised their mugs and cheered in unison.

As for the shadow that was behind him, it was already leaving the mess hall, since Jade already had what she had come for.

* * *

Jade once again emerged in another hallway, close to a window that let the sunlight shine into the room. While it didn't inflict any pain on her, for some reason Jade felt some discomfort when the sunlight illuminated her blue skin. That discomfort was even worse when her eyes looked at the sun for long periods of time, almost forcing her to avert her gaze from it.

"Swell, all I need is the sun to turn me to ash like I am some freaky chi vampire," Jade grumbled, remembering the jiangshi's demise at sunrise.

But truth be told, what was actually causing her foul mood was the indecision that she was actually feeling. If she were guessing right, the Knights' vengeance toward both Vathek and Tynar would probably be… gruesome, at least.

The blue giant had no sympathy from her; she hadn't forgotten how he had treated her and almost locked her up for life. If Jackie were here, he wouldn't take well what they nearly did to her. And Tohru would be even worse.

But Tynar was another story. She really felt his heartache and sorrow toward his acts as a soldier, during this Phobos' reign, she guessed. She had to admit she nearly forgot that this guy had been a tyrant perhaps on the level of Shendu and the other Demon Sorcerers. Perhaps even worse – at least Shendu belonged to a different species than the humans he enslaved, while this Phobos treated his own people as if they were nothing more than slaves. People like him disgusted her, so caught up in their own delusional arrogance and pride that made them act like monsters toward their own people. At least Shendu was a monster from the very beginning, she assumed.

Back to the matters at hand, she was starting to have doubts about helping the Knights of Vengeance in getting their revenge. By all means, they were at least accomplices of this Phobos guy, and on Earth she and her family always beat evil individuals like them. She knew that any of them could be at least as ruthless as Hak Foo or Tohru back when he had worked for the Dark Hand. They would probably kill without hesitation if their master gave the order. So why, _why_ was she willingly helping the ones that she could clearly see as the bad guys in this situation? Now that she was here, she should have tried to reason with the blonde chick, perhaps even dispelling whatever misconceptions they had toward her. She should have turned in the Knights and then perhaps they would finally see that she was not their enemy.

"Yes, I should have been doing that right from the beginning. And I can still…"

"Don't be stupid."

Jade stopped suddenly as she looked around the hallway, trying to see who interrupted her.

"Turn left."

Jade turned and her eyes widened at noticing her reflection on the window's glass. No, not _her _reflection_._

The _Queen's_ reflection.

Jade's surprise melted way as she calmed herself and looked at her dark reflection with a serious expression.

"You know, I was expecting a more freak out reaction than that," the Queen said while she smirked.

"Tch, as if. After all, I've been through enough that seeing you in a window is hardly surprising. It was either that or you trying to emerge from my own shadow while I sunk in it," Jade said as she glared at the Queen.

"Oh believe me, I have been trying to do that, but for now the process seems to be at a sudden… stop," the Queen said with an amused tone.

Jade's eyes widened.

"You know what's happening to me?" Jade asked in surprise.

"To _us_ Jade, to _us_. And I don't know much more than you except that for now our transformation is halted for the moment. Either something is missing or we can't change beyond this stage," the Queen stated.

"I truly hope it's the second one," Jade said in a hostile tone.

"Oh come on, don't tell me that this hasn't being fun until now," the Queen said.

"FUN?!" Jade shouted in anger.

"I mean, we got new powers in this whole ordeal. Not to mention awesome ninja skills to complement. Granted, I would prefer a tribe or two, but still…"

"It cost my family and friends. These powers and this transformation are taking everything from me and it's your fault. Yours and that gecko!" said Jade in a venomous tone, narrowing her eyes in an angry glare.

Instead of an angry reaction or a mocking laugh, the Queen merely looked at Jade with a softer expression, as if sighing to herself. She then says, "Why do you have to do that?"

"Huh? Do what?" Jade asked in a confused tone.

"Blame me for everything wrong in our lives. News flash Jade, it isn't my fault. Not the tattoo, not our banishment, and even our current predicament," the Queen said, now narrowing her eyes.

"Then whose fault is it?" Jade asked in a challenging tone.

"You will understand in time. But right now, what matters is that I advise you to NOT try and gamble with these rebels and their Queen," said the Queen.

"Oh, really? It's awfully convenient that you show up when I'm about to make the right decision. So, are you going to be the bad conscience and try to convince me in joining the bad crowd?" Jade asked in a mocking tone.

"No, I will be the _smart_ conscience and tell you that trying to reason with those fools will only bite us in the end," replied the Queen.

"Why not? Not only will I be doing the right thing, but I also will be one step closer to home. That's it, isn't it? You don't want me to return home," Jade argued.

"It has nothing to do with that, all I know is that I don't trust them. I don't trust Caleb and that Queen Elyon chick. Who can say that after they use us they will not lock us in that dungeon of theirs? Or are you going to lie to me and say that you don't fear that possibility? And if that happens, goodbye to any chance of returning home," the Queen argued back.

Jade falls silent for a moment, as if considering her options.

"And you think that my options are better with the Knights?" Jade asked.

"Well, at least they don't see you as the enemy. I am not saying that you should be BFFs, but staying close to them will probably get you more chances at finding those portals or some other way to return to Uncle's shop," the Queen replied.

"Huh? You want me to return home?" Jade asked in a skeptical tone.

"It is our main desire at the moment. As a matter of fact, family has always being important to us, even if they can be a bunch of ingrates sometimes," grumbled the Queen.

Jade was about to argue when she turned her head to look down the hallway when she heard something.

Footsteps. They were faint but were getting near her position.

"Quick, hide…"

As Jade turned to her reflection, it was just her normal reflection this time. The Queen seemed to be gone.

"Right, I was talking to myself like a madwoman. If Jackie had seen me…"

Louder footsteps were heard and Jade decided to hide behind the curtains. As the footsteps get even louder, she decided to risk it and peeked out to see who was coming.

To her surprise it was Caleb, accompanied by two of his rebels and a strange green dwarf that smelled like garbage, much to Jade's nose's dismay. Each of them was carrying some papers, or more precisely posters of some kind.

"Finally, they're ready Blunk. All we have to do now is wait until the Queen is told about those six. Then these wanted posters will be spread through all of Meridian," said Caleb.

"Blunk happy about that. Will make Meridian safer for Passlings," said Blunk.

"_Wanted posters?" _Jade thought to herself.

Unknown to Caleb and the others, one of the posters fell from the pile, landing on the ground. As their footsteps started to get dimmer, Jade left her hideout and picked up the fallen poster.

What she saw froze her on the spot. It was her face, but looking closer to the Queen, with the red pupil-less eyes and fangs in her mouth, giving her a monstrous appearance which was even more accentuated by the snarl on her face.

"This… this isn't me. This is not my face," Jade protested in a meek tone.

"_On the contrary, it looks just like us. It even depicts our best traits," _the Queen said as she snickered at Jade's distress.

With an angry scowl, Jade tore the poster apart, as if the act would erase that image.

"NO! That is not my face. That is not me!" Jade argued with more strength in her tone.

Again the Queen snickered at her.

"_That may be so, but either way, now you know that you can't turn to them. All that's left to us are the Knights," _the Queen said.

Jade had to agree with the Queen on that, no matter how much she despised herself for doing it. This was starting to get out of hand. Continuing like this, she feared that she would really let herself succumb to the Queen and then… well she didn't even want to think of what might happen. Last time was bad enough.

"I need something, something to remember, a memento of who I am. I can't keep going like this," Jade murmured as she tried to shake off the sense of dread and despair that seemed to be growing in her mind and spirit. She needed something to fight back the Queen's growing influence.

But what? She had nothing from her world, no photos of Jackie and her family, no comics and action figures of Super Moose, no talismans. Not even her beloved orange hoody.

"_I always hated that color. Blue is more us, not orange," _the Queen said in an amused tone.

Inspiration suddenly came to Jade when she looked at the curtains in which she had hid before. She had almost forgotten the reason why she started to wear her orange hoody, why it was so important to her. In Hong Kong, she wanted to have friends, friends that were close to her age, but for some reason she always seemed to have trouble connecting with others. With girls her age, she was quickly dismissed because of her tomboy behavior, and as for the boys, they clearly didn't want to have a girl around their groups. So in no time she was quickly ignored, turned into an outcast on the playgrounds of her school. But as she was not one to surrender herself to anyone, she decided to force them to pay attention to her, and then was where the orange hoody played its part. More than the clothes, it was mostly the abhorrent color that caught the attention of everyone around her, which made difficult for others ignore her. Of course it also caught the attention of jesters and bullies, not to mention teachers that didn't want a "nice girl" to wear rags in the school. But still she defied them, still wearing her orange and fought each of them when they tried to put her down. And in the end it were these "school problems" that led her to America and meeting Jackie and Uncle for the first time, and the rest was history from there.

The color orange would always be something important to her. It would always represent the defiant nature of Jade Chan.

And lucky for her the curtains were orange.

"_What do you think you're doing?" _the Queen snarled as Jade reached for the curtain with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"What I always do best, face whatever tries to put me down," Jade answered.

A kunai slid from her right wrist and she grabbed it; using the sharp blade, she cut a small part of the orange cloth. She then wrapped it on her forehead, creating some sort of orange bandana. She adjusted her bangs in order to not feel uncomfortable with her hair.

"I think that this will help me remember of who I am. I am Jade Chan, the girl that defies all odds, either on Earth or Meridian. Look out Meridian, for Jade Chan is here."

Jade closed her eyes and tried to hear some answer, some cruel remark from her dark alter ego.

Nothing. The Queen was silent. Jade could still feel her presence, but for some reason she seemed to have gone mute.

"Finally, she shut up. Let's go back to camp, Raythor and the others are waiting for me," Jade said as she walked away, looking for an exit or a way out of the palace.

But what Jade failed to notice was that her shadow stretched significantly, and it had the silhouette of the Queen of the Shadowkhan.

As the shadow was cast on a wall, two glowing red eyes stared at Jade's back.

"We will see who this world will fear more. You or me, the Queen of all Shadowkhan."

**Continues in part 2**


End file.
